2023 Rockvolt Round Up

It has been another busy year at Rockvolt, here are some of the highlights from our projects in 2023.

From January right through to December it’s been non-stop in another exciting year for Rockvolt as we continued to grow our offering for retained clients, whilst welcoming some great new projects with new faces.

Whether we were writing stadium operating plans, managing procurement exercises, supporting live events or helping deliver award winning sustainability programmes, we’ve loved every second. Read on to see some of this year’s highlights.

January Stadium Operating Plan for Arsenal FC

At the beginning of the year we were finishing off reviewing and updating the Stadium Operating Plan for Arsenal Football Club that forms part of their stadium licensing agreement with the council and the safety advisory group.

The Stadium Operating Plan reviews all of the Club’s matchday operations, documenting them as SOPs and assigning the accountability for over 50 tasks to Club individuals and teams on matchday, allowing them to open and operate safely.

March Procurement Support at Alexandra Palace

In Spring, Rockvolt were appointed by the Alexandra Palace management team to review their cleaning and waste management services. The outcome of this process led to a decision to put these services out to market via a formal procurement process by Invitation To Tender.

To make the process easy for the busy Alexandra Palace team, we took accountability for the entire procurement process whilst presenting our findings to their decision makers along the way, enabling them to make an educated decision on their contractor.

April BASIS Sustainable Sport Conference

Over two hundred conference attendees were present in April for a day of vibrant panel discussions, presentations and keynote addresses featuring a wide range of speakers from the world of sport and beyond. Topics for discussion included the relationship between sports and cities, sponsorship and reputational risk, and operational solutions to waste and packaging.

Peter Watts, Managing Director of Rockvolt was happy to be on the panel discussing the practical aspects about waste, food, packaging and stadiums. Pete has been on the BASIS Board since 2018, and understands the need to offer tangible solutions into stadium operations as the industry strives to progress its sustainability credentials.

June Royal Ascot

When June arrives, so does the magic of Royal Ascot. Around this time Ascot announced that they had signed up to the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Framework, laying down an important commitment in their race to zero.

This great news came as Ascot Racecourse also announced it operated the Village Enclosure, situated in the centre of the racecourse, as a net zero carbon emissions area at Royal Ascot 2023. The Village Enclosure hosts up to 10,000 racegoers each day it is open across the Royal Ascot race meeting. This news would lead to winning some well deserved awards later in the year.

August Kick Off for Chelsea FC & AFC Wimbledon

We were proud to kick off another season as a retained business for Chelsea FC and AFC Wimbledon, helping to progress the two club’s operational delivery with insights, audits, consultancy, and service delivery improvements.

Working on a retained relationship basis with both clubs gives us the perfect platform to offer our experience and share industry best practise for their facilities management and soft service progression. Both clubs are totally committed to continuously evolving their sustainability and operational efforts and we’re delighted to be part of their teams.

November Green Apple & RCA Awards for Ascot

In November, Ascot was awarded a prestigious Green Apple Award for environmental best practise. The award in the Sports, Leisure & Hospitality waste management category was presented on Monday 20 November in a special ceremony at the Houses of Parliament, London.

It celebrates a remarkable success story for this year’s Royal Ascot event, with recycling rates increased to 55% from 35% in 2022, net zero achieved at its Village Enclosure, and a host of other sustainability measures introduced.

Shortly after this, Ascot was recognised yet again, this time by the Racecourse Association, winning The Racing Foundation Green Award for 2023.