Arena Seating has supporting role at Sports Personality of the Year Award

When Joe Calzaghe was elected BBC Sports Personality of the Year this December in front of sports colleagues and members of the public, few audience members would have been aware that their comfort and safety was top priority for Arena Seating, the company whose seats they were sitting on.

Arena Seating has supplied the show since its inception, but this year’s event presented new challenges and the company worked hand in hand with the Imagination and the BBC’s project management team to deliver additional seats and a fresh design layout for 2007. Arena Seating played a significant role in the huge production effort which ensured a safe, comfortable environment for sporting celebrities, guests and public alike in a theatre that looked fantastic on TV.

“Sports Personality of the Year Award used to be filmed in front of a studio audience,” says Arena Seating Project Manager, Martin Clark. “But last year they decided to take a big step by making it a public event: they sold seats for the first time and it was a great success. This year it’s on an even bigger scale. We installed 8,000 tiered seats in a complex ‘horseshoe’ configuration.”

In addition, the company supplied two double staircases, tunnels, VIP entrances, a large disabled platform and several media structures, providing not only comfort for the audience and participants, but also a high level of safety, conforming to all the relevant standards and guidelines.