TPA help REM deliver a tall story

08 Feb

It may have been 13 years since the world-famous Tall Ships Races last visited Hartlepool, but it was lucky for TPA Portable Roadways.

The project

As well as Hartlepool, the Tall Ships Races 2023 saw the international fleet of Tall Ships and Small Ships return to Den Helder in the Netherlands, Fredrikstad in Norway, Lerwick in Scotland and Arendal in Norway, between June 29 and August 6.

Four of the five host ports had already hosted the stunning Tall Ships fleet, and for Hartlepool in 2010, that resulted in nearly a million people flocking from far and wide to catch a glimpse of the majestic series.

Hartlepool once again played host to 37 international ships and their crews from July 6-9 for four days of celebration including live music and entertainment, food markets, parades, street theatre, a military village, giant observation wheel, and a man-made beach, to name just a few shore-side activities.

Challenge

Event deliverers REM (Richmond Event Management) were contracted by Hartlepool Borough Council to manage the site. They had redesigned it to make it smaller and more manageable, they required a medium to create a wide flat area over the rough terrain for vendors, pedestrians and wheelchair users, not to mention a through road for vehicles between the marina and the docks.

Solution

TPA’s 3m and 4m wide lightweight but heavy-duty aluminium Trax panels, 50 linear metres of which can be fitted by two people in 1-2 hours, were installed on June 21 and collected on July 10.

TPA’s business development representative Joe Cooper said: “There were lots of pre-planning calls and emails to ensure we got the right solution, plus a full on-site meeting with surveys conducted for the areas to create accurate measurements. This allowed us to provide the client with a precise drawing for their requirements, this was all agreed on the plan and the installation proceeded as per the site drawings.

“This was a competitive tender, but our keenness to work with them, to work as a partnership, get their requirements right for what the site needed and to plan so far in advance with them, is what won us the contract.”

“We then proactively got involved with planning and suggesting various options. We were on site at the earliest opportunity and provided them with all the drawings, RAMS and information they needed to ensure their client was happy with our solution and the costs involved.”

Client comment

REM site manager Adrian Eyles Jones said: “I would like to say that working with Joe Cooper was a pleasure. All went smoothly with the quoting stages, and he always answered the phone or email when I needed to get an update.”   

“The installation with the ground crew all went to plan. Once we went round with them, we left them to it, which was a great help to me as it was just one install of many that we had going on. The uplift was just as painless as the installation. All went to plan.”