In 2012 Russia’s Olympic House was built in the heart of London’s Kensington Gardens by GL events UK. The 7,700sqm project included two vast temporary structures, which the country used to showcase Sochi.

Structures supplied

  • Exhibition: a 24m x 130m Premier structure, and 16m x 15m cassette floor system
  • Exhibition hospitality: an 8m x 30m Premier structure
  • Ice rink: a 50m x 40m Giant structure with partial cassette floor, a 10m x 10m Premier structure and 1,243 tiered seats

Outcome

This was one of GL events UK’s most demanding projects.  The team was challenged to draw on all of its expertise and experience to create Russia.Sochi.Park.

Attractions at the venue were erected on behalf of Eventica Communications, with a winter wonderland interior concept designed by M-IS Plc. The attractions included the biggest ever ice show outside Russia, music and dance performances and even a 4D cinema where visitors experienced a chairlift ride up the snowy Krasnodar mountains.

The temporary Russia.Sochi.Park. stood close to the Albert Memorial, hemmed in by historic plane trees, a location which at one point required our crew to use a 160-tonne crane to lift the equipment right over the trees so as not to damage them.

The team had to compensate for the undulating parkland by raising part of the structure’s floor on scaffolding, some 1.2m high, in order to deliver a level platform on which the exhibition centre could be erected.

The ice arena, where the shows were watched by 1,200 people at a time, was tall enough to accommodate tiered seating standing 4m high and also saw a bridge installed over the rink for performers.

The 130m-long cinema and exhibition centre was fitted with an opaque PVC covering for complete control of lighting levels.