Although - unusually for 2007 - the weather managed to stay fine for the entire duration of the build, festival and load out, the site of this chilled-out event provided Star Events Group with a number of challenges.
Bestival takes place at Robin Hill Country Park, a well-known local tourist venue that nestles in a scenic valley, featuring woodland, lakes and winding paths. This year the event expanded to take in part of an adjacent farm, but a major concern for Star Events Group team of 12, led by Andrew 'Bomber' Phillips, was the undulating nature of the terrain.
"All the structures we built were on sloping sites. There wasn't one that was on flat ground," says project manager Phil Addyman.
Erecting the 20m, three-bay Orbit for the main stage was certainly something of a challenge, as Star Events Group's Mike Goodwin explains.
"The stage had to be erected in a very tight area with very little room to manoeuvre. We installed single tower PA masts, which help to reduced the overall footprint of the stage so it would actually go into the area. And with our collective expertise we were able to install the main stage without any compromise to the overall impact," says Goodwin.
However, this was just one of 14 areas where Star Events Group provided structures. "We built structures right across the site, comprising small stages, small front of house structures, projector platforms and slightly larger stages for the Big Top tent and Club Dada," adds Goodwin.
Building so many structures meant that a vast amount of equipment had to be got on and off site, which is where another major test presented itself. "The logistics of getting everything round the site were very challenging," says Addyman. "There were just two access points to the site and all access was along farm-style tracks and down steep hills. With so many suppliers having to use them, inevitably there were bottlenecks. We solved it by having three 'boneyards' in different parts of the site, where equipment was brought in and deposited. From there, we had a 7.5 ton truck ferrying the gear to where it was needed."
(Jim Evans)
