Jockey Club Racecourses has expanded its partnership with GL events UK at Cheltenham Racecourse, increasing the value and volume of its account since our Cheltenham Festival debut in 2014.

GL events’ total event overlay solution for Cheltenham Festival 2018 was the perfect opportunity for the temporary event infrastructure specialist to showcase some of the best examples of premium temporary structures and fit-out available in the UK today.

Our diverse, 25,000sqm installation for Cheltenham Festival 2018 created 14 different zones across the event, including its impactful and vibrant courtyard destination: an exclusive, self-enclosed avenue of beautifully glazed and finished restaurants, characterised by its astro-turfed central arcade and high-specification individual venues.

Elsewhere, the sporting and equestrian event supplier installed further exclusive dining and hospitality venues, the Festival media centre, food court, public bars and restaurants, Cheltenham’s famous shopping village, luxurious trade stands for exhibitors including Bentley Motors, and the ever-popular Final Flight bar; while 5,250sqm of imposing double- and triple-decked hospitality chalet suites provided outstanding views of the Parade Ring for corporate hospitality guests.

A passionate, 50-strong on-site and office-based team of GL events staff clocked up more than 15,000 working hours working with event organisers to develop new concepts, transforming these plans into realities at Cheltenham Festival. Our quality installation included everything from scaffolding to heating, lighting, flooring, furniture, washrooms and interior design and fit-out.

GL events’ giant contribution to the Festival included more than one mile of exterior wall panelling, 100 exterior doors, 1,000m of painted internal hard-walling, lifts, interior staircases and temporary kitchens; more than 14,000 individual items of furniture, 200 toilets and urinals, along with 80 vanity units across 11 toilet and washroom areas; 4,500 metres of heating pipework, 150 climate control units, 4km of lighting cable, 2,600 plugs and sockets and more than one mile of fluorescent lights, to mention just some of the elements that add up to create a GL events solution.

This infrastructure was installed in three phases, with phase one – preparation for Cheltenham’s October Showcase event, starting in September. Phase two saw GL events installing further infrastructure for the November Meeting. Finally, GL events returned to site in February to install impressive multi-deck hospitality venues and create the courtyard in readiness for March’s Cheltenham Festival.

In 2018, operations were remarkable for the adverse weather conditions preceding the Festival; but, despite the challenges caused by severe snowstorms, GL events delivered its promises on time, achieving a superb quality installation and making a positive contribution to event-goers’ and organisers’ experience, thanks to rigorous planning and its collaborative, consultative and highly flexible relationship with Jockey Club Racecourses.