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REGIONAL ROUND-UP
DESERT SWING 2021 ABU DHABI, DUBAI AND SAUDI ARABIA HOST THREE EUROPEAN TOUR GOLF TOURNAMENTS ON CONSECUTIVE WEEKENDS, WITH ARENA MIDDLE EAST PROVIDING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ALL THREE. The European Tour 2021 season got underway in style, with a Middle East triple header of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Omega Dubai Desert Classic, followed by the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. Taking place over consecutive weekends in late January and early February, the three tournaments, known collectively as Desert Swing, had a combined prize fund of $14.5 million. For the third year in a row, Arena Middle East was tasked with providing much of the essential infrastructure for the three tournaments. Director of Operations, James Burgess explained how the company’s prior experience working on the events stood them in good stead when it came to this year’s delivery. “The biggest challenge for us was in the first year,” he recalled. “From that point onwards, we were able to tweak our process and apply everything we’d learned in the previous year. This time we reaped the rewards of our experience and all three tournaments were delivered extremely smoothly.” The Arena supply varied between the different events, with the various stakeholders having different requirements each weekend. For the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, this year was actually the 13th in a row that Arena has delivered structures for the event, but the first time that it was managed by the European
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Tour. The company provided more than 3,800 sq m of structures in total, including the 18th Championship Pavilion, the media centre inside the Westin Ballroom and the hospitality chalets for the main sponsors. “We provided a full turnkey interior solution within all the hospitality areas,” Burgess noted. The Dubai leg of Desert Swing saw another varied delivery including 1,125 sq m of Viewing Deck over two levels, comprising 575 sq m of Arena Superdeck and 550 sq m of Arena Scaffold structure for the 18th hole. Again, a turnkey fitout solution was also supplied, including glass handrails, staircases, wooden deck flooring, bespoke planter boxes, outdoor furniture, florals and plants. Interiors were also provided for a number of hospitality areas, including the Gentleman’s Lunch Area, Player’s Lounge, Caddies’ Area and Driving Range. The final instalment of Desert Swing took place at Royal Green, KAEC, Saudi Arabia. The extensive Arena delivery included interior fitout, furniture and floor ducted cooling units for the two-storey 18th Hospitality Pavilion with back side terrace. Also supplied were structure and interiors for the Royal Majlis, Aramco Observation Deck, 17th Tournament Bubble Viewing Platform and 16th PIF Pavilion, which included full branding supplied by Arena’s in-house team, as well as a number of on-course tents.
“It really was a huge undertaking,” Burgess told TPMEA. “From our point of view, the key to these events is building a specialist knowledge of that specific event within the crew. It’s important to analyse the project and make sure that you put the right team in place, then try to maintain that through the years. Every year we return, we take what we’ve learned previously and apply it to refine the delivery even further.” Despite COVID-19 adding an extra layer of complexity to the project, Burgess was pleased to report that there was just a single positive case recorded among the entire Arena team and its supply chain. “That happened right at the end in Saudi,” he revealed. “We had to isolate four people as a result, but the speed at which we reacted meant that the virus wasn’t allowed to spread throughout the team and, importantly, the tournament.” With another successful delivery under the belt, Burgess is looking forward to continuing the long-term relationship in the future. “We work so closely with our clients right the way through the year that we view the relationship more as a partnership than client and supplier,” he concluded. “We’re all about long-term partnerships and, as this year’s event proves, our delivery continues to improve every year.” Photo: Arena Middle East www.arenamea.com