Actavo works in conjunction with St Patrick’s Festival, Dublin City Council, An Garda Síochána, and Dublin Bus to provide crowd control infrastructure to facilitate staging the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin city centre every year.
Scope of works
Actavo provided crowd control solutions through the installation of crowd control barriers with ballast bags (CCBs), Heras fencing and crossing points. The team also provided grandstands, media platforms and drape and camera structures to maximise filming potential for media companies. Infrastructure provided to Dublin Bus and Luas services included fencing to allow for Luas earthing points to be isolated to ensure safety during the festivities.
Services delivered
Actavo supplied, installed, and de-rigged crowd control solutions for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, covering 5km of Dublin city centre. This included 6,500 crowd control barriers, 21 pedestrian crossing points, 950 temporary fences, mojo front of stage barrier and traffic barriers, four media structures, two fixed and two mobile grandstands for dignitaries. The team constructed camera platforms, invalid platforms, and an outdoor covered stage. They removed and reinstated all street furniture along the parade route.
Key successes
Time management
The parade took place over a two-hour period, so the team needed to operate to tight timelines. Each year, Actavo’s derig time is reduced, allowing normal service to resume in the city as quickly as possible.
Operational excellence
Actavo put structures on wheels the day before so they could be rolled in on parade day to save time. All temporary structures were removed from the parade route by 3pm using low loaders for increased efficiency. Actavo brought in additional resources on the de-rig phase to meet tight timelines.
Two separate crews covered the installation and de-rig of the event infrastructure. Once the event moved from the northside to the southside the second crew removed all infrastructure from the streets allowing the Gardaí to open them up to cars and pedestrians as soon as possible.
Health & Safety
Detailed method statements and risk assessments were devised by the project management team and signed off by safety team/advisors before the event. Actavo’s dedicated SHEQ Manager remained on site throughout the event to ensure strict adherence to health and safety protocol.
Innovative technology
The team used a tracking app on their phones to be able to see where they needed to be and at what time. Actavo also used traffic management software which allows design product allocation and ensures that Traffic Management Plans are as efficient as possible.
Solutions to challenges
Experience
Installing crowd control barriers in the city centre between 1am and 3am with revellers on the street was challenging. Through experience, skilled project management and close collaboration within the team, as well as employing additional resources such as banksmen, Actavo ensured safe and efficient installation, with minimal inconvenience to normal operations in the city.
Benefits to client
Efficiency
Fast, skilled and safe installation and removal of crowd control infrastructure.
Experience
Seasoned project managers with a strong working relationship with stakeholders.
Communication
With tight deadlines in place, team cohesion and clear and timely communication with stakeholders was vital. Actavo supplied an event controller who worked in the event control room during the parade, to enable the team to receive information and provide solutions in real time.
“We have worked with Actavo Events (previously ‘Eventserv’), since 2009 and have been working with its key management personnel dating back to the late 90s. Each year for our event we require approximately 4,500 crowd control barriers and various quantities of heras, scrimmed heras, mojo barriers and massguard road safety barriers.
Each year we need to install the barriers and fencing on the streets of Dublin in very tight timelines, working with various stakeholders, such as DCC, An Garda Síochána and Dublin Bus. Similarly, we need to have the barriers removed in a very short window to free up the city and allow traffic to flow freely. Actavo’s key management team have a very strong working relationship with the main stakeholders, which has always been an advantage in advancing our project. We have always found Actavo to be extremely professional. Actavo has always worked in a safe and productive manner, delivering within the agreed and contracted timelines.”
Susan Kirby
(former CEO of St Patrick’s Festival)