When GF Tomlinson Birmingham Ltd, the building contractor managing the £13.5m rebuild of the Forum at the LG Arena, needed a partner for the design and installation of the catering elements, it contacted Inox Equip Ltd. Joint bids were submitted in October 2008 and Inox was awarded the £750k project in November 2008. The previous food offering resembled simple, kiosk-style fast food and the client wanted to create a facility that would ‘capture’ and excite up to 14,000 people, prior to them entering the Arena, and maximise spend per head while appealing to a diverse cross-section of customers such as concert goers, exhibition visitors and corporate sponsors.

The initial tender specification was drawn up by the NEC Group and their nominated architects and as a complete design team, Inox’s approach was to provide a venue that would deliver commercially, but with ongoing appeal to its varied audience, and offer a multiplicity of food offerings; ultimately, delivering a robust design for the client that would work efficiently in operation. Inox gave consideration to future-proofing and minimising environmental impact, as well as closely monitoring costs, especially in a tender bid situation and during the current economic climate. The largest challenge however, was the critical completion date and finite handover date as events had been pre-sold and were immovable! Inox attended weekly design meetings chaired by GF Tomlinson and provided new and updated design drawings throughout the process. 

To assist with the smooth running of the project, all outlets were treated as individual projects under the main project umbrella, which allowed the Inox team to concentrate on specifics, dealing with any issues in a methodical manner. Inox collaborated with all sub-contractors, which proved to be a successful and productive strategy, enabling them to ensure that the complete project was delivered in line with the strict NEC event calendar. Installation was carried out over a 5 month period and the project was handed over, on schedule, in June 2009.

As part of the handover process, Inox undertook:

•  Staff training for front-line, management and maintenance teams 
• Compilation of hard and soft copies of operating and equipment manuals for each area  
• As-built drawings, detailing approved design changes from the original specification 
• A debrief with client and supply chain The LG Arena is now a fantastic, state of the art entertainment venue, which offers a one-stop, pre-show entertainment experience. Customers are met with multiple destinations for food, drink, advertising and merchandise, in an open-plan, modern and dynamic setting and the fantastic Tower Deck offers an exclusive, private mezzanine with world-class hospitality, looking out over the renamed forumLIVE below. Caryn Masters, General Manager of Catering at both The NIA & LG Arena, says “Our business case to refurbish the LG Arena was based upon achieving an average concert catering spend per head of £5.10, which was a growth of 20% on previous spends. After trading the first three events we have achieved an average of £5.51, representing a 34% growth, and as much as £6.52, which we are delighted with. It demonstrates that we listened to our customers and are delivering concepts and choices to appeal to all, so we expect to be able to grow this further into the future with ongoing feedback and research.” 

Scope of Works: 

• 2 fast food operations, which are adaptable, for multiple offerings 
• Tower Deck bar with satellite kitchen, ware-wash facility, stills area, cold store and final food preparation via hoist from the production kitchen below 
• Café snack bar  
• Bespoke, hand-built restaurant servery, with full production kitchen 
• 7 refrigerated bulk storage areas 
• Ventilation canopies in all areas with integral, patented Halton Ventmaster ‘capture-jet’ technology 
• Multiple station bar with 4 multi-dispense, fast-flow stadium pumps 
• 3 bespoke, mobile pod catering-led outlets, designed for open-space exhibition venues, giving the perception of a permanent structure. Two of the pods provide two offerings and were specified as: a Champagne Bar, Cheese and Wine Pod, a Pick ‘n’ Mix, Smoothies Pod and a Grab ‘n’ Go Pod offering various food and beverages