In London’s theatreland must-see shows attract audiences that enjoy arriving early to soak up the atmosphere before the curtain rises. Often, in addition to audience queues for ticket and bag checks, there are also queues of people collecting tickets at the box office, along with theatre fans hopeful of last-minute availability to see a sold-out show. When the show finishes, the whole audience leaves at the same time, spilling out onto the pavement and forming a crowd. These pre- and post-show gatherings present a duty of care for theatres to protect audiences as they arrive at the building and leave following the performance, as while as during the event itself.
Showtime at Sadlers Wells
Located on Rosebery Avenue in Islington, a wide, straight and flat road, Sadlers Wells Theatre is known for innovative dance shows. The theatre entertains capacity crowds of over 1500 people and was keen to develop a security strategy that includes protecting audiences as they gather outside the venue before and after each performance. They contacted SAFECROWDS GROUP to help them understand their risk factors, and we carried our a Threat Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (TVRA) and Vehicle Dynamics Assessment (VDA), providing a full report with an outline of their risk profile and our recommendations for both protective security measures and operational changes that could help boost safety.
Our counter terrorism specialists work closely with our certified crowd management professionals to understand the crowd dynamics of the location and factor crowd flows and crowd safety into our TVRA report and recommendations. This meant that we were able to provide the theatre with a clear understanding of risk factors, along with steps that they can take to mitigate risk while ensuring smooth ingress and egress for performances.
The TVRA involved site visits to survey the area, along with interviews with key personnel to understand usual operating procedures and security protocols, along with any operational and safety considerations. This included working with the management team to understand the behaviours of theatregoers during egress, when most people leaving the venue either congregate outside while waiting for taxis, or queue at bus stops located directly outside and opposite the venue.
Our TVRA also included a vehicle dynamics assessment (VDA) which enabled us to incorporate data-led calculations regarding attack routes and potential vehicle size, trajectory and velocity into our risk assessment to ensure our recommendations outlined protective measures aligned to the specific threat.
This scientific approach, incorporating operational detail, enabled us to develop a complete Zone Ex strategy for the theatre, which included consideration of crowd dispersal patterns and external risk factors.
After submitting our TVRA report, we attended site again to explain our report and talk the client through our recommendations and any residual risk factors they need to take into account when taking the project forward into the procurement phase. We also recommended some simple zero and low-cost security measures that the Theatre could implement quickly, including operational measures to improve crowd dispersal during ingress and thereby mitigate risk.
