Arena Group true blue with Aegon Championships

It was UK success at Queens Club this June as Andy Murray became the first Britain to lift the trophy in over 70 years and UK company The Arena Group created a fresh looking tennis championships.

It was smiles all round as capacity crowds enjoyed some great tennis in glorious sunshine and in the finest temporary event overlay. The Arena Group created a stunning new environment for the AEGON Championships, working closely with the LTA, Queens Club and the event’s new sponsors Aegon and commercial partners including BNP Paribas and Highland Spring.

With the (Aegon) Championships’ change in headline sponsor the LTA had to consider changing the ‘traditional’ red branding of the past 32 years. The LTA event manager Lottie Creswell explained:

“We knew changes were required, so we have taken the opportunity to give the temporary infrastructure a totally fresh look. We asked the question ‘if we were starting with a blank canvas what would we do’? The ideas from Arena were fantastic and we have been through several evolutions during the design stage to get to what we have today. As ever they have delivered the highest standard of temporary infrastructure. We have received a multitude of great comments from stakeholders and guests throughout the week.”

The most striking change to the event was the bright blue temporary seating installed by Arena Seating around the centre court and Courts 1 and 2, with the blue sponsors branding extending throughout the venue. Arena Seating director Dave Withey managed the project, which began with manufacturing over 8,000 plastic blue seats to match the sponsor’s blue pantone colour. The new blue seats fit into Arena’s frame system, minimising carbon footprint, with bespoke components including the customised corner units, hospitality and media boxes incorporated into the temporary grandstand.

Arena Structures Director Ron Smith implemented the new look temporary facilities, installing pristine corporate hospitality, public bars, catering and retail outlets. With multiple sponsors to consider (rather than previous years when the one sponsor had all hospitality rights) Arena designed a new two-storey hospitality venue with separate areas themed to the aspirations of the various host companies and their guests. They also made the amenities more inclusive by including a large balcony and public restaurant.

Sister company Spaceworks contributed to the events fresh aesthetic, introducing new ranges of furniture to augment the different areas distinctive designs.