We chatted to Kelly Baker who has just completed her first full season heading up the Managed Ice Rink division of event specialist Arena. Here Kelly shares the challenges, lessons learned, strides forward in reducing their environmental impact and a heart-warmingly impressive approach to accessibility.

With four managed ice rinks at Hampton Court Palace in London; Cathedral Garden, Manchester; Westfield, Shepherd’s Bush, London and Queen’s House, Greenwich, and multiple sites (as far south as Kent and as north as Aberdeen) where Arena dry hires ice rinks, there was plenty for me to get my teeth into.

Our involvement in the four managed sites does vary slightly, for Hampton Court Palace and Cathedral Gardens we literally look after everything i.e. marketing, ticketing and operational delivery. For Westfield and Queen’s House rinks it’s a more hybrid approach with Westfield running its own marketing campaign. Whilst Queen’s House is self-sufficient for both marketing and ticketing, opting to tap into the Royal Museums Greenwich (of which it is part of) website and systems which makes perfect sense.  

I’ve worked in events for a long time but this was my first time actually running them as it were.  From the challenges of funnelling down 100’s of questions into a comprehensive set of FAQs for your website to grappling with the great British weather and a sizeable supply chain, it’s certainly been a learning curve.

Weather is often the biggest challenge when it comes to ice rinks and even more so at Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich due to their proximity to the river as rain and wind really affect it. Having the right people maintaining the ice is essential and we definitely improved here, managing the ice more effectively. There were no Glycol leaks and we were able to keep closures to an absolute minimum, although all the planning and effective management can’t do anything about 50mph winds. 

Whilst I didn’t want to change too many suppliers in my first year there were a few areas I knew we could take a look at. Sunbelt Rentals provided generators and chillers for the London sites for the first time and impressed me from the outset. There were minimal issues and really managed the project well, being both proactive and reactive as needed.

Working with Design Difference also had a big impact, I wanted to give the rinks a warmer more inviting feel, that encouraged our guests to stay longer, they interpreted the creative brief perfectly, were full of ideas and just great to work with.

From a sustainability perspective we moved completely to grid power for the Greenwich rink, which they had installed predominantly for the ice rinks. This meant we didn’t require diesel generators there at all and for the other sites we switched to HVO which again massively reduces your carbon emissions. We also actively explored partnerships with UK conservation projects and collaborated with Everclime, a purpose-driven sustainability platform, who engaged with our skaters, who received certificates recognising the positive environmental impact of skating with us and were given access to incentives when they engaged with the platform.

Another key priority for us is ensuring that the ice rinks are accessible to everyone. We run numerous sessions at all the sites for people with varying needs. All the rinks welcome wheelchair users, who are accompanied on the ice by a helper on skates. If we have availability that can even be one of our own ice marshals. Simple things like reducing capacity and the sensory elements, so turning off flashing lights and lowering the volume of the music, make a big difference. At the Westfield site we had a quiet and calm hour every single day which was really popular, particularly with groups from special needs schools.

Our partnership with Cash for Kids which helps children across the UK affected by poverty, illness, abuse, neglect or who have additional needs is very special. Supporting its annual festival campaign, Mission Christmas, we run a special week at the Hampton Court Palace and Skate Manchester Ice rinks where 10% of all ticket sales is donated to the charity. This year we raised over £24,000 which is amazing.

We also run an exclusive session at our Hampton Court Palace site for Shooting Star, the charity supports babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across west London and Surrey. It was a fantastic evening and so moving when you know that it might be the last outing some of those families ever have.

Highlights for me were the huge strides forward we’re making in reducing the carbon footprint of our events, the effort that’s put in to make them accessible to everyone and our partnerships with children’s charities. With the debrief almost complete we’ll begin planning for 2024 in early March and I couldn’t be more excited.

Suppliers:

• Sunbelt Rentals - generators and chillers – Hampton Court Palace, Queen’s House and Westfield Shepherd’s Bush
• EMS - generators and chillers – Manchester
• Off to Work -staffing and medics
• Design Difference - interiors
• Showsec - Security for Manchester
• PMY Group -CCTV & WiFi
• Pure Power and Blueprint - electrics, sound, light & AV
• Christmas Tree World - Christmas trees