As the title suggests, we're thrilled to announce that off the back of becoming the official stage and AV equipment supplier to a prominent South Coast holiday resort, we've also won the contract to supply our services to Surrey County Council!

We've already worked this client on numerous occasions previously. Still, the award of this contract gives us yet another boost during what has undoubtedly been a challenging year for the outdoor events industry.

So without wasting any more time, let's delve into the details of our new status as the preferred festival and outdoor stage supplier for our home county!

Outdoor Stages Wins New Contract to Become Preferred Festival Stage Supplier for Surrey County Council

So now we've got that announcement out of the way, let's go into a little more detail concerning the equipment and services we will be providing for Surrey County Council. First and foremost, we've been awarded a 24-month contract to provide an extensive range of outdoor covered stages for the council.

These stages will be hired for numerous events throughout the contract period, and the requests will continue throughout the year, rather than being truncated into the more temperate summer months.

A driving force behind the increased needs for outdoor stages has come from the current trends developing in the wake of COVID-19. Now more than ever before events will need to be held outdoors, given that scientists currently believe that being outdoors dramatically reduces the threat posed by the virus.

In terms of the events themselves, there are too many to name each one. However, highlights include supplying small outdoor covered stages to several local fêtes with approximately 500 attendees. We're also the preferred festival stage supplier for huge events such as the showground bonfire and firework display that attracts almost 20,000 eventgoers each year.

It's fair to say that our brief is pretty varied! While we don't want to bore you with the details of every little aspect of the Surrey stage hire services we'll be providing to the council, it's worth quickly running over the stages that we'll be supplying most often.

Surrey Stage Hire Options for Outdoor Events

As just mentioned, we'll be providing the full gamut of stage hire services for this two-year contract, but it's worth highlighting two of our stages in particular that are going to 'see a lot of action' as it were during this period.

The first of those stages is our 6m x 4m arc roof stage. The council were particularly impressed by this specific stage because the apex roof system gives you a covered outdoor stage workable stage area of 6m x 4m. We've made this a possibility by having a unique stage deck cut to fit within the stage stature itself. No other staging company stocks this type of design.

This versatile stage is popular for events such as local fêtes, agricultural shows, Christmas lights switch on events, and so on. It's our most popular Surrey stage hire option because it delivers such an impressive stage size for a very competitive cost. In other words, there are very few stages available anywhere else in the country that offer as much bang for the buck.

At the other end of the scale, since we are the preferred festival stage supplier, there are a couple of options within our stage hire stock that will make plenty of appearances. The first of which is our 11m x 9m arc roof festival stage. This outdoor stage produces a workable stage area of 10m x 8m and a stage deck height of 1.4m which is simply unheard of with this specific style of arc roof system. As such, we are the only UK based staging hire company that stock this outdoor stage.

This stage package works perfectly for large events such as music festivals, outdoor concerts, and big firework displays where bands are playing. We've even installed this into the Excel London as a corporate exhibition stage! You'll receive no prizes for guessing that this will be in use (along with our second large 12m x 10m arc dome roof festival stage) at significant outdoor events put on by the council such as the upcoming firework displays mentioned above.

So now we've explained a little bit more about the types of stages we'll be supplying to the council, we thought it would be worth passing on why the council thought we were an excellent fit for this contract.

Council Impressed by Outdoor Stages' Track Record

When asking for feedback upon the successful award of the contract, the council were kind enough to give us some insight into what we offered that helped us come out on top as the preferred contractor in this specific instance. Hopefully, their response will help us to win future public sector work in the future.

Without divulging too much information, the representatives in charge of this tender process we able to elaborate further on a few of the critical criteria that were to make up the overall scoring system that was in use to evaluate stage hire contractors. One of those was industry reputation and references.

Since we've been in operation as an overall events production company for over two decades, it's fair to say we've built up a considerable industry reputation for delivering a quality and reliable stage hire service. Council members were able to speak to numerous clients listed on our tender as references, and they were impressed with the feedback they received regarding current and past projects.

Our reputation as one of the best outdoor festival stage hire contractors in England is something we've worked incredibly hard to develop. We're incredibly proud to have exceeded expectations throughout our long history of operations, and it's so gratifying to learn that it stood us in good stead for this contract award. So a quick shout out is due to our clients for singing our praises, thank you!

Of course, a robust industry reputation can only get you so far in a competitive tender process, so when we pressed the council for another factor that we scored highly on, they cited our outstanding commitment to health and safety. They said that while other contractors provided the necessary documentation, what Outdoor Stages delivered demonstrated a willingness to go above and beyond to ensure the safety of employees, fellow contractors, and members of the public.

We've always been proud of our continuous dedication to health and safety. It goes far beyond merely checking a few boxes in terms of documentation for us. It shapes almost all of our processes and procedures, and we never stop learning and passing on information to our employees through training workshops.

Whether it's our in-depth Risk Assessment and Method Statements (RAMS) or our industry-leading wind management plans and comprehensive public liability insurance, we genuinely understand that a lot of responsibility rests on our shoulders when supplying a stage. That's why we never cut any corners and continue to go and above the mandated health and safety requirements in order to provide a safe and professional service.

Surrey County Council Impressed with Outdoor Stages Tender Bid

After getting that very insightful and useful feedback, we did ask for a quick comment for the website, and below was their response:

"We would like to thank Outdoor Stages for putting together their tender proposal, and we can confirm that they have been award preferred supplier status for outdoor stages for the next 24 months.

We found that the proposal put forward was not only comprehensive, but it also exceeded all of our specifications for this contract. The highest score in the tender process, combined with our previous successful dealings with this company on several projects, brought us to the conclusion of selecting Outdoor Stages as a commendable winner of this competitive tender process."

As you can imagine, we're thrilled, and we can't wait to get started helping our home county with the planning of some of the council's most significant events. Many of these will be held outdoor for the first time, so both parties will be breaking new ground and providing evidence that outdoor events can be rip-roaring successes under COVID-secure protocols.

Outdoor Stages is Far More Than Just an Outdoor Stage Supplier

While this contract award was explicitly limited to becoming a preferred festival stage supplier, we'd just like to remind you that we can provide the full turn-key outdoor event package. We can provide all manner of accompanying AV equipment as well as a crack team of some of the experienced stage crew, lighting technicians, and sound engineers in the country to run the entire production of your outdoor event.

No matter the size or scale of your event, we can provide what you are looking for in terms of PA systems, mixing desks, amplifiers, stage monitors, lighting fixtures, PA wings and trusses structures, special effects, and LED screens to name a few. We aren't talking about run-of-the-mill equipment either. We are talking about industry-leading brands Shure, Showtec, Midas and d&b audiotechnik to name a mere fraction of what we have available.

The best part? We own all of our equipment. We do not need 'sub' anything in to supplement our service offering. Better still, we don't know of any other contractor who dedicates as many resources as we do to the service and maintenance of said equipment. We also rotate stock every three years to ensure we stay on top of the latest technological advances.

When it comes to our event production team, we're fortunate enough to have some of the best in business on the payroll (not that we're biased of course!). Our teams have worked in industry-leading venues such as the ExCeL in London (as mentioned), and they're more than comfortable working under the pressure of a high-stakes outdoor event. We've also recently retrained all personnel in the new guidelines surrounding working at a COVID-secure event.

Choose Outdoor Stages as Your One-Stop Outdoor Stage Supplier

Here at Outdoor Stages, we provide a range of cost-effective stage hire solutions for any size of event, along with any supporting event production services you may require. We don't just have a vast inventory of outdoor stages, but we also have one of the most extensive AV equipment collections in the UK. We are just as happy supplying outdoor stages to your event as we are offering you our industry-leading, turn-key outdoor event packages. We are flexible to meet your specific needs.

We have unparalleled knowledge of health and safety, and our industry track record speaks for itself. By choosing Outdoor Stages, you're teaming up with a knowledgeable events partner that you can trust to deliver the project successfully.

If you have any further questions regarding stage hire, or indeed a full outdoor events package, please give us a call to chat to a member of our friendly team!