New Year's Eve celebrations in Rotterdam and Amsterdam and a Christmas charity event in Groningen brought together tens of thousands of people in each city with each presenting different challenges for crowd safety. International barrier company Mojo Barriers worked with production companies on each events to supply tailored barrier systems to ensure each event was safe.
For the double New Year's Eve events Mojo Barriers used two teams to work in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In Rotterdam a floating stage on the canal hosted a music concert and The Production Factory commissioned Mojo Barriers to install 750m of barrier along the canal bank. 20,000 people attended and the Mojo team used their experience of the site and free public events to ensure the crowds remained safe.
Technical production manager Rene Scholing reports: "Crowd safety is a big issue for public events and the canal presented another challenge. This is the third year Mojo has worked on the event so the team understand the requirements and we have peace of mind knowing they are involved."
At the same time in Amsterdam, production company Stripped commissioned a Mojo team to install over 400m of barrier in the city's Museumplein, a new location for the New Year event. A 35,000 strong crowd gathered for the festivities to celebrate New Year.
Marcello Houtman, technical production manager at Stripped reports, "The reason we chose to work with Mojo Barriers was the quality and flexibility they provide together with their ability to consult for a safe site. The bonus was that they provided two snowshovels to be able to deal with the extreme weather conditions we were experiencing in Holland."
The third event, Serious Request in Groningen was an annual charity fundraiser organised by one of the biggest radio stations in Holland (3FM). This year, Princess Maxima (wife of the country's king to be) opened the event which saw 3FM presenters living in a glass house in the city centre square for five days without food. The area required 24 hour protection and Mojo Barriers provided the barrier system to keep the audience at a safe distance and enjoy the music requests played to the imprisoned presenters.
Erwin Sprengers, account manager for at Mojo Barriers in the The Netherlands observes: "The set of events needed perfect planning due to the different build and break down dates at each site. We worked with an open and flexible attitude with each client to ensure the end of 2009 was enjoyable for everyone involved."
(Jim Evans)
