Electrical Contracting News (ECN) June 2016 | Page 23

PROJECT FOCUS

CHELTENHAM RACECOURSE

The racecourse also hosts conferences, concerts, music
festivals, fairs, weddings and even the occasional circus.

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All photos courtesy of willpascall.co.uk

On the first floor is a bar for Annual
Members and also Big Buck’s Champagne
Bar, named after the horse that won an
unprecedented four World Hurdles and 18
consecutive races.
The second floor of the grandstand
consists of an Owners & Trainers Bar,
with a balcony overlooking the Parade
Ring, horsewalk and course, while the
third floor is home to the Royal Box and
11 private boxes. The top floor houses
The Cheltenham Club, where members
are allocated a table for the season, from
which to enjoy a four course, a la carte
lunch, stunning views of Cleeve Hill and
the Malvern Hills at the back of the stand,
and a fireplace to keep warm between
races during the winter months.

Triumph of collaboration
Throughout the construction process,
planning and teamwork were key. In
partnership with Kier Construction, that
process began by submitting proposals
to the racecourse owner the Jockey Club
and from inception to completion, was a
triumph of collaboration. CF Roberts and
Kier, two companies, one team was the
mantra and the foundation for success.

Of the special challenges presented
by work on the construction of the new
grandstand, two stand out. First of all, over
100 years of history are in your hands. The
course at Prestbury Park first opened in
1902, it has a magnificent sporting heritage
and deeds of daring and famous victories
are dutifully celebrated and recorded in all
their glory. The more mundane however
is sometimes overlooked and nobody
had ever quite got round to keeping
accurate and up to date records of service
infrastructure; cabling and the like.
Secondly, work at the racecourse has
a very particular dynamic. Unsurprisingly,
everything revolves around the racing
calendar which presents immovable and
highly visible deadlines. Miss any one
of those deadlines and the whole world
knows about it.
Faced with the challenge of miles
of unspecified legacy cabling there is
inevitably a degree of trial and error involved
in identifying the cabling that is essential.
‘Over the years, broadcasting franchises
have changed regularly,’ explains Mark
Richardson, project manager for CF
Roberts. ‘Each broadcaster brings their
own ideas, innovations and particular
requirements and then they move on.’

UNSURPRISINGLY, EVERYTHING REVOLVES
AROUND THE RACING CALENDAR
WHICH PRESENTS IMMOVABLE AND
HIGHLY VISIBLE DEADLINES.

With the help of specialists in broadcast
cabling and effectively working backwards
on a process of elimination, the puzzle was
solved, though Mark admits with a smile that
unsurprisingly, the task ‘had its moments’.
Throughout the construction process an
overriding consideration for all concerned
was the extensive fibre optic, ‘integrity
cabling’ essential to every race meeting.
This cabling enables regulation of the
meeting by the stewards and the clerk of
the course who need cameras to judge
photo finishes and ‘head on’ cameras to
assess any breach of the rules. It also
supports all bookmaking activity.
Although obviously fundamental to life at
Cheltenham Racecourse, there are in fact
only 16 days racing each year. To make
the venue and the new grandstand viable,
a strategy has to be in place that utilises
the facilities 365 days a year, which means
the course hosts conferences, concerts,
music festivals, fairs, weddings and even
the occasional circus.
Within the grandstand itself, lighting,
heating and cooling have to be controlled

zonally so that specific areas can be
selected and hired out for weddings or
smaller more exclusive conferences.
Sequencing of services also has to very
carefully considered as the grandstand sits
among many other ancillary buildings with
services common to all. Lighting control
was also a key challenge, as the external
lighting relies on power supply from
multiple buildings and had to be combined
with other services including CCTV
cameras, PA speakers and Wi-Fi units.

Honour and privilege
So, finally, with every challenge met,
milestone reached and deadline hit, the new
grandstand was formally opened by the
Princess Royal in November last year. At
the time she said it was ‘a real honour and a
privilege’ to have the stand named after her.
Ian Henderson, managing director of CF
Roberts, concludes, ‘We feel equally proud
of our work on this iconic sporting landmark,
and privileged to have been part of such an
exciting and rewarding project.

The new grandstand was formally opened by the Princess Royal in November last year.

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