Creamfields, which took place from 26-28 August this year in Daresbury, Cheshire, has grown from a small dance festival spawned from the underground clubbing culture, to one of the UK's largest events pulling in crowds of over 50,000 people with major chart headliners including Chemical Brothers and Swedish House Mafia.
This year Creamfields added a third night to the line up, and welcomed more than 45,000 campers across the weekend.
Mark Logan, director at Showsec, said, "It is no longer a niche dance-based demographic in terms of audience base; it's a mainstream festival where guest experience is of paramount importance to the organisers.
"As the UK's leading electronic music festival, Creamfields differs to live music events - the focus is not so much on the traditional 180 stage format , but more about safe access and egress to and from the campsite and between a multiple performance areas, each attracting different audiences depending on the talent scheduling. With so many campers this requires sophisticated crowd-management systems."
Showsec provided 1,100 staff, working across a multitude of shift patterns over the weekend ensuring a flexible approach to the security operation.
Jim King, Loud Sound's festival director, said, "We've invested in site infrastructure, such as the solid perimeter fence around the whole site, and have also invested a lot of time in working with Showsec to plan and implement various strategies. These ensure our guests have a safe and enjoyable experience. With this year's increased capacity we knew that security was the right thing to focus on."
(Jim Evans)
