Neptunus provides Temporary Structures for Boardmasters Festival

The Assignment

Boardmasters is the UK’s biggest surfing competition which combined with a star-studded music and dance festival attracts more than 50,000 people each year to the spectacular beaches of Newquay in Cornwall.

The waters along the coastline are renowned as the UK’s finest location for surfing and have attracted many of the world’s leading professional surfers since the inaugural event was staged in 1981. In 2005 Boardmasters was expanded to incorporate a music festival into its five-day programme which has now evolved into a ‘Surf & Skate’ experience with skateboarding and BMX biking.

However, it is surfing that Boardmasters is particularly acclaimed for. Champion surfers from around the globe compete alongside the UK’s top surfers in World Surf League competitions for men and women with junior tournaments geared towards uncovering the wave riders of tomorrow.

The famous Fistral Beach in the town of Newquay is where all the ‘Surf and Skate’ action takes place. The picturesque beach and Trebelsue Farm at nearby Watergate Bay host a three-day music and dance festival with more than 30 different artistes and bands performing across 10 stages each day. Headline performers for 2022 were George Ezra, Disclosure and Kings of Leon in a varied programme to celebrate Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock and Dance.

BM Management coordinate operations at the festival and appointed Neptunus to provide key back of house facilities and to create a dance arena for visitors, along with checkpoints for entry to the site.

The Solution

It took a 12-strong crew of technicians from Neptunus just seven days to erect a host of Apollo structures, covering nearly 700 square metres, which formed resting areas for artists and staff along with medical points at each of the 10 stages.

A series of Alu Hall structures covering 1,664 square metres provided a variety of temporary structures including a covered dance venue called the ‘Dockyard’.

Visitor checkpoints were also created for the event.

Neptunus has a long-standing tradition of providing a vast range of top-quality facilities to high-profile festivals and concerts across Europe. They were selected for this assignment following successful projects they have tackled in the past working alongside Cornelia Hammarlund, the Deputy Operations and Production Manager for BM Management.

It took just five days to dismantle and remove all the infrastructure after the event.

The Challenge

As with all the summer assignments in 2022, Neptunus crews were working in extreme hot weather as the UK and Europe sizzled under record breaking temperatures.

Cornwall is also the UK’s most popular holiday destination in July and August, attracting hundreds of thousands of holiday makers every week which can cause severe traffic congestion during the summer months. The Boardmaster site spans a large area with the event’s format requiring numerous small structures. This required meticulous planning and communication with the organisers to ensure all equipment was delivered on time, built promptly within tight time frames and swiftly removed following the festival.

The Verdict

Cornelia Hammarlund, Deputy Operations & Production Manager, says: “Working with Neptunus and Robert (Bligdon – Project Manager) has been a pleasure since day one. They have been professional and accommodating throughout our tender process which eventually made it an easy choice. The quality of their structures is high across the whole specification and their onsite team was efficient – even as things were altered last minute. We are excited to move forward in our relationship and see how we can grow and perfect things at our festivals alongside the supplier.”