News
CSP have been operating at Twickenham Stadium on behalf of the RFU since 2003 with our first car park operation coinciding with Twickenham's first concert: The Rolling Stones in 2003. Roll on 20 years and it's not just the car parks we are entrusted with but the full traffic management and external stewarding operation covering the visitor route from Twickenham High Street and Station all the way down to the Stadium. We are pleased to have been re-appointed with a new term contract, testament to the value in which we hold this client.
Over the last 5 years we have seen an increase in the demand for temporary HVM (Hostile Vehicle Movement) systems, as the Police withdraw from venue footprints and also with the terrorist risks attached. These systems were also used during the pandemic to allow external restaurant expansions and support wider footpaths. We provide 2 solutions: one is a heavyweight ATG solution which is suitable to maintain in place for more than a day, with pins which can be dropped to allow emergency vehicle access. The second is our lighter weight Mifram system which is is more beneficial where there are limited build or break periods available for road closures, as can be installed and demounted in under 30 minutes, and is easily rolled back to allow emergency vehicle access.
We were very proud to be awarded the traffic management contract at ExCeL London in December, following a period of off-site management to support the busy event schedule at the venue. Our history at the venue goes all the way back to the start of the millennium, when we were instrumental in the design of the traffic management plans and managed the operations on-site. After a few years, ExCeL London implemented a strategy of taking the operation in-house and so our team there switched employer and continued to provide an excellent service for many years to come.
To encourage engagement during the World Cup this year, our Head of HR, Tim Surch, devised (what we all thought look complicated but he made look easy) a competition based on each match score for the qualifying rounds. We had some great engagement but what became even more entertaining during these rounds was Tim's amusing summaries each night after 9.30pm, with a blog around movements in the table following scores that very few could have anticipated (Cameroon beating Brazil, Japan beating Spain, Belgium's losses, Tunisia beating France, South Korea beating Portugal, Germany out) that all of us competing looked forward to.
We are pleased to sponsor a race annually at Newbury Racecourse and it was nice to get back to normality this year, given the last two years of the pandemic. We sponsored The CSP Mares' Novices' Hurdle again this November 3rd, and Newbury Racecourse allowed us to use their Royal Box to give some of our management team a day out and the opportunity to meet some of our key clients. Luckily, the rail strike was called off so everyone could relax and share a drink and share stories of the last couple of years, put faces to email conversations and talk about the future.
Our Premier Fantasy League, CSP - Living the Dream, has had the highest numbers of competitors since we started it in 2017, with 138 teams entered to date, made up of a combination of both staff, suppliers and clients. A constant over the last few years has been the inclusion of George Mayanja and O'Neil Mclean (now our client at Tottenham Hotspur FC) battling in the Top 5, but we have seen a much more open contest so far this year with George in 7th place whilst O'Neil, clearly distracted by a busy season at Tottenham Stadium, all the way at 57th (even behind yours truly at 45th !!)