Download Festival’s landmark 10th anniversary year attracted its largest audience, just short of 100,000 rock fans, to Donington Park, Castle Donington. Headliners were Black Sabbath, Metallica and The Prodigy.
Showsec did the festival security and crowd management. A lot has changed over the past decade, as Download’s director of security Simon Battersby says: “We are a company with a proud history but we have evolved enormously since the first Download Festival. Most noticeably is the level of experience and knowledge amassed in depth through our management and supervisors. We prioritised a focused training program, alongside personal mentoring and continually encouraging personal career progression for our most able, ambitious people, so experience remains within Showsec. With that experience and understanding has come significant developments in operational procedures, on-site communications, logistics, planning and systems which result in an improved service for promoters and their audiences.
“The introduction of our online e-learning platform for all staff in 2012 means relevant focused training is now available to all staff. All staff joining recently have benefitted immediately from the shared knowledge via our training, contributing to the consistently high levels of service we have delivered at Download 2012.”
The resolve of the whole production and the Live Nation teams was put to the test, with fans arriving on campsites from the Wednesday, torrential rain made this the wettest opening in the festival’s history by the Friday. Showsec worked to maintain a positive atmosphere through those difficult conditions, while all suppliers and promoters Live Nation took measures to make site conditions as good as possible.
Richard Church has travelled the journey from year one to 2012, this year being appointed as Showsec’s ‘Head of Arena Security’. With over 600 security staff on site his remit includes their appropriate deployment. He says: “Year on year we improve the level of preparation and introduce new procedures, such as the improved entry search teams on the lanes this year building towards the stringent requirements at BT London Live. Overall this means we are better equipped to deliver consistent services in all areas of the site, 24-7, and deal with any issues in our stride.” Preparations for Download 2013 are under way.
