Sports + Events

Trusted advisors on crowd safety and dynamics for the highest profile venues in the world

We have been advising architects, venues and event owners and operators on crowd flow, safety and visitor experience since 2005.

Our people movement advice has influenced the design and operations of the highest profile venues in the world.  We help venues to create memorable safe, secure and enjoyable visitor experience while maximising capacity, flexibility and commercial performance.

Our experience

Our experience encompasses sports venues large and small and events of all scales - from the Chelsea Flower Show to London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Hajj. We work globally - from major venues such as Wimbledon in London to Hong Kong Jockey Club, Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup, and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Applications

We help our clients by:

  • Support planning and design of new venues, from feasibility through to opening by advising on design standards, capacity, crowd flows, space and process planning.
  • Increasing the capacity and throughput of existing venues by advising on process design and management.
  • Optimising commercial performance and visitor experience.
  • Optimising operations and resilience.
  • Planning for security screening and Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures.
  • Planning venues and overlay for events - concerts, new sports (e.g. NFL, boxing) and mega events.
  • Analysing transport accessibility and defining appropriate transport strategies to ensure that visitors can access and egress a venue safely and conveniently.
  • Providing ongoing support and post-occupancy evaluation services to ensure that venues adapt to changing demands.
  • Helping to re-open and manage venues for social distancing.

Our trusted advice draws on our understanding of spectator and visitor behaviour in different environments, using insights gained through our varied experience and our ability to capture and interpret people movement patterns from data.

We contributed to the latest edition of the UK’s Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (aka the “Green Guide”), published by the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA). The guidance forms the basis for licencing stadiums in the UK and underpins event safety planning for large sporting and major events across the globe.

Our advice covers the entire spectator journey to/from venues and events; from arrival on site through stations, car parks and surrounding streets, through the search process and turnstiles on ingress, navigation inside venues and egress from the site.

Excellent visitor experience involves every aspect of the event day from security and ticket check, VIP entry arrangements through to toilet capacities and catering service rates. Our spectator flow modelling and advice identifies opportunities for efficiencies, in design and management, across all of these aspects to create a more enjoyable experience for a range of users. Our advice underpinned the decisions on facility locations within the Wimbledon Tennis Championships Master Plan and the design of ‘Fan Parties’ associated with the Rugby World Cup.

We are pioneers in crowd modelling and crowd dynamics. Our extensive portfolio of tools includes our own SENSE modelling software and ‘off the shelf’ dynamic microsimulations, such as, Legion Spaceworks, massmotion, viswalk and Pedestrian Dynamics. We will always select the most appropriate tool to deliver the best results for each project.

Post match egress of a sports venue
Post match egress of a sports venue

Construction Planning: Understanding and planning for crowd movement patterns under different demand scenarios are crucial when masterplanning for multi-venue precincts and events as they expand and change. These venues and spaces require a flexible approach to maintain venue operations alongside construction activities. Our expert insight and advice at Wembley Park, Tottenham Hotspur FC and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park during construction and development has ensured that any reduction in space or availability of routes has minimal impact on crowd safety and visitor experience on event days.

Our expertise includes transport planning for major stadium developments and crowd modelling of stations, metros and other modes of transport. We have advised on design and operations of major metro systems and transport for major sports venues globally (Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Santiago, and Melbourne).

Related case studies

See all our case studies