Sunderland tall ships
Transforming an active steel port, into a world class event destination
In 2017 we worked for the fifth time with the prestigious Tall Ships Race, when it came to Sunderland, turning an active steel port into a world class event site.
The Tall Ship Race brought 70 of the majestic vessels to Sunderland Dockside and we worked with the council to create a huge free celebratory event, as well as infrastructure to receive the tall ship teams.
With a relatively short lead time for an event of this scale, the 150 acre site was built within a week. The site is an active steel port and played a central part of the event. To make the area safe, accessible and appealing we relocated tonnes of steel and deep-cleaned the entire port. To enable the dockside to receive a huge number of vessels, we created infrastructure including temporary water and power for each ship.
We managed an action packed agenda of entertainment across five areas of the dockside, as well as iconic fireworks shows set to music across the event weekend.
Site Infrastructure: Complex site infrastructure in an active steel port
Destination Placemaking: Creating a watershed moment for an historic port town
Artist Liaison: Managing hundreds of live acts across 2 stages
Operations & Safety: Operations and logistical management of 53 attending tall ships
To add to the event sustainability, just days after providing this event for the city of Sunderland we moved a huge section of the event infrastructure to Roker beach for the second world class event, the Sunderland Airshow.
