Planning 2014 Outdoor Summer Events

With 2013 rapidly drawing to a close, most big event organisers will already be rubbing their hands at the prospect of a bumper summer in 2014, when the music festival season once again comes around. The elite events are probably already organised to the minutest detail, with perhaps the exception of finalising the line-up. However, plenty of other events (apart from actual dates set in stone) will still be very much in the planning process.

That means there is still plenty of time to make sure you have your ground protection plan in place. Many of the modern outdoor events take place on hired pieces of land that owners expect to get back in the best condition possible. If you have witnessed some of the previous big summer festivals, a mud bath is not an entirely uncommon occurrence. However, where possible, the implementation of ground protection mats, these kinds of situations can be minimised.

The mats themselves can be used as walkways, they can also be used as temporary roads and even temporary car parks, which can make the transport situation a much smoother process in an area that is not used to lots of traffic and vehicles.

Check out the main website at Ground Access Hire for lots more details.

Keeping Your Winter Wonderland Safe with Anti Slip Ground Protection

Over the coming weeks, many of the major towns and cities up and down the UK, will be staging their own versions of a winter wonderland. In addition to Christmas markets, there will be all kinds of other festive delights, with fun fairs, Santa’s grotto areas, ice skating rinks, outdoor music concerts and other various forms of entertainment to keep the family entertained in between bouts of shopping during the schools out period.

As punters or shoppers, we very often don’t see the time and hard work that goes into preparing these events to ensure that they run smoothly and more importantly keep people safe while they are having a good time.

The elements are perhaps an organiser’s biggest nightmare as it’s something there is simply no control over – so the weather has to be taken into account. You might be lucky and have a prolonged spell of dry and relatively mild weather but not preparing for rain, snow and ice would be foolish in the months of December and January. You certainly don’t want parents and children slip sliding their way to see Santa because he is there to hand out gifts rather than first aid! Despite the weather conditions, people have that little bit extra resilience at this time of year and will be determined to get into the festive spirit – so even when the weather is bad, you must prepare your venue or area for the impending arrival of human feet.

Ground protection should be high on the list of any organisers’ “things to do” as not only is it likely to keep people safer but it’s also likely to make the event a much more pleasant experience for everyone involved.

Companies like Ground Access Hire are an ideal place to turn to for all your big events and special outdoor occasions. The ground protection mats themselves can be hired and usually installed and removed (post event) by the company staff. The mats are strong and durable enough to take plenty of weight in all kinds of weather and the anti-slip surface means that all of the people attending the event will be able to walk confidently on the artificial surface. If the heavens do open, a quagmire can usually be avoided with the mats in place so there is no need for the event to be spoiled in any way.

For more information about ground protection for your upcoming events, visit our main website now.

Preparing for your Bonfire Night Firework Parties with Ground Protection

If you are part of a group that organises special outdoor events and functions, you may well be looking back at the summer with a degree of satisfaction (especially after the weather of the last few years) having enjoyed a relatively decent and dry summer. Maybe you used ground protection mats, maybe you didn’t but the weather helped you out anyway and you were able to return the festival ground or farmer’s field back to the owners in pretty good shape.

As autumn and then winter descends, there are less and less of these outdoor events to organise, largely because it’s simply too cold for them to be enjoyable. However, there are still one or two significant events to organise and with the weather becoming more and more unpredictable in the latter stages of the year, it is probably even more important to prepare well.

In days gone by, November 5^th and the days either side of it, many people would have their own private fireworks parties, very often with a bonfire in the back garden. As safety concerns have risen, these sorts of private or family parties have been largely discouraged in favour of the much larger community firework displays. These are not simply a bonfire and a few fireworks though, as many of these events cater for hundreds, even thousands of people and include novelty stalls, food and drink and even fairground rides. This obviously takes a lot of organising and very often need larger areas of ground to cater for the numbers.

Ground protection mats are ideally suited to this kind of event and could prove invaluable. Even if the heavens don’t open on the night itself, the chances are that by this time of the year, the ground is soft at best and sodden at worst. The mats which can be laid very quickly (so don’t require being down too far ahead of the event itself) and taken up again quickly when the event is over can be used either as temporary parking or perhaps more importantly for temporary pathways for all of the people to walk safely on.

Avoiding a mud bath means that everyone is free to enjoy a great night of fireworks and festivities and bring peace of mind to event organisers up and down the country.

For more information about ground protection, please visit our main website at www.groundaccesshire.co.uk

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: D – E

In the first two parts of this alphabetic blog series, we looked at the first three letters, A-C. So, moving on, let’s have a look at what the letters D and E present in the world of Ground Access Hire.

In fact, D and E actually bring some of the most important aspects of the whole business to the fore, two of the most crucial ingredients for the whole ground protection industry.

D

Damage Avoidance – Really the whole point of ground protection and the use of ground protection mats is to avoid damage to the ground that ultimately ends up underneath them. As we have seen in previous chapters, the ground in question could be anything from a new building site, a large summer music festival (event access) or even someone’s back garden where a small wedding might be taking place.

The protection mats themselves are designed to deliver an artificial surface that is both strong and safe to not only walk on but in many cases, to drive on as well, all the while providing protection to the ground underneath from all kinds of damage.

Although their function is essentially always the same (protection the ground), the mats are versatile in the sense that they can be used for walkways, roadways or even car parks on a temporary basis. In the past, plywood panels have sometimes been used for some of these situations but the grip on the mats, which are made from HD polyethylene, is far superior and makes them a much more suitable choice.

E

Emergency Access – Sometimes, essential building work needs to take place outside or near to very important buildings or areas, such as hospitals or perhaps a section of road that needs to be repaired but on which traffic needs to continue to flow. The ground protection mats are ideal for providing temporary emergency access to places such as these and are of course strong and sturdy enough to carry out the job required comfortably. The fact that the mats are easy to assemble, to put into position and then dismantle and remove again when no longer required, makes them absolutely ideal for emergency access situations.

You can of course, learn lots more about our ground protection mats over on our main website, where you can also contact us if you wish to hire some of the mats for one of your own events.

An Alphabet of Ground Protection Mats: A-B

In this upcoming series of blogs we are going to be looking at all things to do with ground protection mats, where you might find them, what you might use them for and how they can make a difference in a variety of situations. We are going to use the alphabet because it just seems like a methodical way to work our way through all of the benefits and features that are available through Ground Access Hire.

A

Access – Ground protection mats are all about creating access to areas that might otherwise become impassable – usually for safety reasons. It might be a car park, it might be a roadway or a pathway. In fact, the mats could be used for almost anything that helps to provide better, safer, easier access to a whole host of events and venues.

Air Shows – During summer months, air shows are extremely popular and you can find them at various places up and down the country. While most of your time will be spent looking up towards the low flying aircraft and the fantastic formations and displays, you will often take for granted what is below you. What if the weather turns sour? What if the ground the show is taking place on, is normally precious farmland? Will the field become a mud bath? Can the ground cope with hundreds, even thousands of people walking across it? The solution – ground protection mats.

B

Building Sites – If you have ever worked on a building site, you will know just how dangerous and precarious they can be without all of the right equipment and safety gear on site. In fact, the last 20 or 30 years have seen many improvements in health and safety and most well run building sites simply won’t allow work to commence until everything is in place. Ground protection mats can be used for many different areas of a building site. They can be used to create temporary car parks and roadways for heavy machinery and equipment or they can be laid in areas where perhaps there are portable toilets to provide some stability. So, the mats are really important in this particular industry.

How Trak Mats Can Aid Developers

Many towns and cities are seeing an increase in construction. Big developments such as supermarkets, out-of-town retail parks and housing developments are springing up across the country. Industry experts surmise that the growth may highlight that the UK is finally out of recession.

However, with re-development comes mess and concerns for structures already in place. Popular in the construction industry at the moment is the need for ground protection mats. Not only do they protect the ground underneath but they also provide a safe and secure roadway for construction vehicles.

The temporary ground protection panels are often used for safeguarding existing block-work, tarmac or grassed areas from heavy loads and machinery whilst enabling an easy site route for vehicles and plant hire.

The easy to use mats can be taken away quickly at the end of development with the minimum of fuss and no damage to the ground underneath.

The use of these mats will save money as there will be no damage to carry out from heavy tools and machinery. The only equipment required to tighten the bolts on these mats is an Impact Driver and a 14mm socket.

There are many benefits to using Ground Access Hire's boards. TrakMats are;

·         Lightweight, only 33kgs

·         Easy to handle 

·         Constructed from durable HD Polyethylene renowned for being a tough material.

·         Connected together easily and joined using Urethane connectors and bolts.