UKVMA

VENUE PROFILE: Lee Valley VeloPark, with General Manager Jeremy Northrop

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has changed since London 2012, a site cut off from the world around it, to a green space with people walking, cycling and boating through it, with the noise of traffic and construction. In short, it’s become part of London. At the A12 end of the Park, the Copper Box, Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre form a sporting triangle that’s augmented by BT Sports and Loughborough University’s new campus for sport management courses.

Vibrant Partnerships manages Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre which are owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Jeremy Northrop is the General Manager of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and Richard Love is Centre Manager of Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. Their combined experience encompasses working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, nightclub management, opening leisure centres, arts venues and youthful careers as top-class tennis players.

Jeremy Northrop, General Manager.

In this article, UKVMA interviews Jeremy Northrop about both venues . In a parallel article UKVMA interviews Richard Love about Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre.

Lee Valley VeloPark – vital cog in cycling sport

Lee Valley VeloPark General Manager Jeremy Northrop believes one of the main challenges facing the venue is to engage with a wide cycling audience and the general public not used to using a purpose built venue offering multi discipline types of cycling for all:

The prestige of the velodrome as an Olympic and Paralympic venue and the wonderful space gives us a unique venue that is proving popular to hire for corporate opportunities but this also gives us our biggest challenge as it can also act as a barrier for ordinary people and visitors who do not know what goes on inside and around this fantastic venue.

Not everyone realises Lee Valley VeloPark can be enjoyed by anyone, so we work to get clubs, schools, community groups and charities to use the venue, as well as international competition athletes.

The venue’s big screens and signage are reminders that this isn’t an ordinary building. The Olympic effect has resulted in 1.5 million since April 2014, on average 700,000 per year.

No cycling venue in the world gets close. Where else can you say ‘I’ve cycled on the same track on which Sir Chris Hoy, Laura Trott, Mark Colbourne won gold’? Unlike visiting Wembley, where visitors face signs to ‘keep off the grass’, we encourage people to ride on the same track as the world’s best cyclists.

Although the velodrome is booked solid at the moment, we predict a falling away of some of the one off bookings as the memory of London 2012 recedes. The challenge remains to integrate with the local and regional community to ensure long-term success. A growing residential and office area nearby will provide future customers. Northrop explains:

We are delivering a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Games and we will find a compromise between corporate and community use, and those who have never been on a cycle track before in their life. The indoor track programming is currently circa 25% private booking and corporates, 25% schools, clubs and groups and 50% general public. But in 3-5 years’ time the programming is unlikely to look the same.

Vibrant Partnerships has therefore revised the building’s priorities, turning the velodrome into a community and corporate venue capable of holding large events. But is a venue designed for an Olympic Games capable of this change? Northrop:

The building has presented some challenges but nothing damaging to our business. I love the way that the building looks. Given the chance, I would change some of the customer journeys and behind the scenes facilities, but I wouldn’t trade the ‘wow’ factor that people experience when they come in.

A burst of activity in the last decade has built three new indoor velodromes – in London, Glasgow and Derby – to join the National Cycling Centre in Manchester and the Wales National Velodrome in Newport. Jeremy meets with managers from the UK’s other velodromes twice a year and finds the information sharing process very helpful, especially around programming trends.

Lee Valley VeloPark, and in particular, the velodrome, makes itself available to British Cycling for major events but Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Vibrant Partnerships are fully responsible for the upkeep and management of the venue and how it operates and receives no lottery or British Cycling funding for the day to day operations.

Big event days

Lee Valley VeloPark hosted a sell-out world hour track attempt by Bradley Wiggins and earlier this year hosted the best-attended UCI Track Cycling World Championships ever. This was quickly followed by a week of Comic Relief events, with stars practising with the public during training prior to the show in a major BBC-funded broadcast event. So how does the venue team take on these exceptional events?

It’s exciting to work on these events. Job roles are quite diverse and we’ve a great team at Vibrant Partnerships who get stuck in. A number of staff are NVQ level 4 qualified safety officers which help in managing such large events and spectator numbers. We have people here who worked during Games time so bring that experience. We also have volunteers, some of whom were Gamesmakers. We schedule carefully to be fair to volunteers who sometimes want to be at every event.

Six Day London event.

Jeremy Northrop is also in no doubt about the personal satisfaction of managing such a venue:

Where else are you going to get a World Championships on your CV? Big events are exciting and people love working here.

Vibrant Partnerships staff multi-task between day to day and big events, which require out of hours shifts. The venue currently hosts approximately one spectator event per month. Even when an overlay is in the velodrome, BMX, Road and Mountain Bike activities can continue most of the time. There’s no hanging around getting back to normal use either; the recent World Championships ended on a Sunday, and after a rapid ‘get-out’, the velodrome opened for normal business on the following Tuesday. At another event saw damage to the track and colleagues worked through the night so that the venue could open to the public the following morning. This is different to many of the other high profile venues and theatres where there will be programme quiet time for change-overs and setting up events.

On the different working patterns, Jeremy Northrop observes:

We have to balance our programme carefully and it is a real challenge. We don’t want to be too quiet for too long but neither do we want to be too busy for too long. The amount of work involved in organising, preparing, running and bumping out an event takes longer than people think or expect and doing very long hours during the bump in, event days and bump out is standard.

Day to day staff at Lee Valley VeloPark consist of an assistant manager, duty managers, centre assistant, customer service assistants, management support, coaches, catering, mechanics, engineers and sports-related staff. Vibrant Partnerships has multi-skilled operatives dealing with electrical and mechanical equipment. Three grounds maintenance staff look after landscaping in this part of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. For a large event like the World Championships, the building is staffed 24/7 for a fortnight, with all staff on a rota.

Collaboration between Vibrant Partnerships venues brings value in many ways. The proximity of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre means that they can combine in hosting large-scale events. Jeremy Northrop and Richard Love have a friendly rivalry around record capacities. The velodrome holds the record at 55,000 for its recent five day World Championships, while June’s Hockey Champions Trophy at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will have around 40,000 spectators.

Lee Valley VeloPark development

After the London 2012 Olympic Games, the velodrome was remodelled to support community use, and re-opened fully in April 2014. Development work included the building of a one mile road circuit, a remodelled 390 metre BMX track and skills area and miles of mountain bike trails.

The velodrome is only one part of the VeloPark.

The velodrome houses treatment rooms, newly opened ‘VeloStudio’ consisting of top of the range indoor fitness and training bikes. Balance bikes and pump track activities are provided within the track centre, offering cycling for children aged two years and above. Cycle Surgery provides the retail partnership for the venue and the in-house catering service provides opportunities to develop the offer and increase revenue. Jeremy Northrop is looking to develop indoor BMX’ing, via a purpose built pump track to make it weather-independent. An extra section has been recently added to the road circuit to make a smaller loop that is flatter and more accessible for disabled groups and novice hand-cyclists. Areas outside the velodrome have been used for temporary marquees during large scale events and are contenders for more permanent structures to be built and there are discussions about covering the outside BMX track.

UK VENUE PROFILE: Lee Valley White Water Centre

Every day is a big event day at a venue like Lee Valley White Water Centre. General Manager Paskell Blackwell and his team welcome a steady flow of guests on all seven days of the week. These paddlers, rafters, diners and walkers all need to be kept safe and looked after during their stay. After all, there are 13,000 litres of water per second powering through the site. The flow could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a little over three minutes.

The white water course and the terrace overlooking the course start. Practice lake.

These visitors pay for white water packages, food and drink and merchandise. An occasional televised canoeing competition raises the centre’s profile but it’s the daily visits and income that enable the venue’s operator Vibrant Partnerships to keep it solvent.

This world class centre has 25 acres of landscaping and car parks, an all-round security fence, a 330 metre Olympic course, a lake the size of two football pitches, boats, rafts, gates, blocks, hotel-level finishes, lockers and bathrooms.

Rafting for the people

Rafting is undoubtedly exciting and fun – take this writer’s word for it. It also looks a bit daunting. “The guides are key to matching the level of excitement with the participants’ appetite for it,” explains Blackwell.

Safety briefing from raft guide.

The raft guides – professionals, some also athletes in training, with qualifications and experience to match – engage with customers to understand what they are enjoying, or not. It’s an itinerant profession, with guides moving between southern and northern hemispheres to match demand and Vibrant Partnerships trains apprentice raft guides from among the local population.

It all starts with safety. The guides provide an equipment briefing and show how to be safe in and out of the rafts. After that, it’s fun all the way and plenty to talk about in the café afterwards, together with digital action photos to take away.

Rafting course.

Back in the cafe and on the terrace to share stories and photos.

Customer engagement

“Vibrant is a new company finding out how it wants to do things but the name tells you we want to make our venues exciting for customers,” states Blackwell.

The centre remains open all year round, serving walkers and cyclists using the Lee Valley Country Park. Blackwell concedes that this is not profitable business in itself but is an important part of keeping the centre at the heart of its community: “Getting people on site is important, especially to get families and young people to experience what we have to offer.”

Breaking down barriers to encourage people to visit is a constant part of the centre’s marketing initiatives, for example family rafting and March Mayhem discounts.

Weekends tend to be booked up so the centre encourages students and schools during the week and is also focussed on getting corporate customers on weekdays. The centre hosts an annual schools festival when thousands of children from across London, Essex and Hertfordshire experience white water rafting.

“We are available to host big events and support British Canoeing’s bids, but we need frequent attractions so we are also inventing our own. We’ll have outdoor cinema and Free summer activities and games during the school holidays at the pavilion in the park on the white water course side,” explains Blackwell.

Venue development

In 2014 Lee Valley White Water Centre spent £6.3 million to extend the main building with the Terrace Bar & Café, including a huge decked terrace which extends to the edge of the white water course. The café hosts live entertainment in the evenings.

A ground floor extension was also built to incorporate British Canoeing’s High Performance Centre which is the base for the British Canoe Slalom squad and all UK Sport funded Podium athletes. The budget also paid for a separate pavilion with café and terrace, adding to the hire options Vibrant Partnerships can offer to customers.

The original building built for the London Olympics in 2012 has performed well. Green credentials include grey water recycling, solar panels and a heat recovery system. Energy use is equivalent to a large leisure centre.

Lee Valley White Water Centre – by the numbers

2012 London Olympics – 82 athletes, 55,000 spectators
2014 ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup – 300 athletes
2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
2011-2016 – more than 600,000 visitors, including more than 100,000 rafters and more than 50,000 canoeists

PEOPLE: Simon Ricketts to MD at Leicester Arena

Simon Ricketts has taken up the Managing Director hot seat at the new Community Sports Arena at Charter Street, Leicester, which is anticipated to open at the end of January 2016. Ricketts was formerly in charge at the Lee Valley White Water Centre, which staged the canoe slalom events at the London Olympics, working for Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and LOCOG. Prior to this he was General Manager of the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham – Holme Pierrepont.

Ricketts said

The Arena is an excellent sports facility for the city of Leicester, and I am really looking forward to making it a focal point for sports participation and sporting events in the city.

Simon Ricketts is MD at Leicester Arena.

It is great to know that, prior to my appointment, the Arena will have as its anchor tenant the Leicester Riders, who are so successful in the top flight of the BBL, which will undoubtedly assist in promoting the venue to the city, county and beyond.

Leicester Arena ramping up

Kevin Routledge, the Project Director of the Leicester Community Centre said

We are absolutely delighted to get Simon on board, to take on this really important role. We are now nearing 80% completion of the new Arena, although we still have plenty of work to do to complete the Arena build and fit-out.

Planning for the operational phase is now ramping up and getting Simon on board in this leadership role is a critical part of the process.

He will bring a wealth of experience in sports facility management, gained from helping to deliver one of the most successful Olympics ever, so we are extremely pleased that he has agreed to join us.