Camp Germany
Tent erection and hire companies have full order books. With the World Cup, whole tent cities for VIP and fan events are springing up, not just around the stadiums.
From tents for the sale of fan merchandise to two-storey luxury palaces - temporary buildings are in demand for the World Cup in Germany. Not just around the twelve participating sports venues but wherever football fans gather, they should be able to celebrate and watch under cover.
Tents are also an ideal design element for creating classy VIP areas and enclosed areas that guests are not aware of. For the World Cup, of course, extravagance is called for, which boosts the demand for the unusual. De Boer, for example, is the official partner for the iSe-Hospitality programme and supplies tents to sponsors. The company is providing tents at all twelve venues and will be using a novel two-tier construction and "everything we have that is out of the ordinary", as Stefan Bartosch, managing director of de Boer, puts it.
In Berlin alone, 35,000 m2 will be under cover. Preparations for the mega event in Germany have been underway for a year, but then de Boer does have a lot of experience of large sporting events. The Confederations Cup as the dress rehearsal is one project pulled off successfully by the tent erector from Recklinghausen, as were the Asia Games in Doha, which were actually even bigger than the World Cup. But, although this is business as usual for a globally operating company, the World Cup does have its special challenges. The acceptance procedure, the fire protection rules, and implementation of all safety regulations are unusual, says Bartosch.
Röder Zelt- und Veranstaltungsservice from Büdingen is also a chosen partner of iSe-Hospitality Production GmbH with the order to equip four venues with tents for VIP hospitality. It is one of the biggest single orders Röder has ever had to accomplish. Not even for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was so much material used. For an order of this magnitude, good advance co-operation is essential for smooth erection and tear-down and throughout the event.
Tents for parties and celebrations are especially in demand as well as large tents of all types for use at the venues. Röder tents will cover more than 41,000 m2, partly on two storeys, at the Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, and Cologne stadiums.
Andreas Eschenbach, Marketing Director at Eschenbach Zeltbau from Bad Königshofen, is also happy to report a boost in turnover from World Cup business. "However, there are considerable investment costs and very long material tie-up of up to twelve weeks at the World Cup venues", is his only worry. "Because we will be present in numerous German cities with over 45,000 m2 of tent surface.
And there is no let-up in demand: many agencies, organisers, and local authorities are still in the final stages of planning for the projects to run during the World Cup. "But many underestimated just how soon the run on tents would start."
Two-storey tents, but also simple pagodas and tents for parties and celebrations are very much in demand. "Opaque material is being used more and more for tent roofs. It is impervious to light and stops the tent getting too hot inside and is standard for the tents at the FIFA stadiums."
In addition to the large logistical effort and the considerable effort for the accreditation procedure due to the application of FIFA's strict safety code, for Eschenbach and his team the challenge is the parallel erection of several thousand square metres of tent space for hospitality, merchandising, catering and other temporary buildings at the stadiums and at World Cup celebrations. Other events will also be held during the World Cup setup phase.
The customers expect the greatest flexibility. "There are hardly any definitive plans because sales are still in progress", reports Eschenbach. As if that were not enough, nearly all partners are new to the business or in their project. And the terrains for erection have never had tents put up on them and the organising agencies have never staged a fan party, and do not have any experience to fall back on.
m+a report Nr.3 / 2006 vom 28.04.2006
m+a report vom 28. April 2006