ROYAL ASCOT a centrepiece for the 70,000-capacity Tomorrowland electronic music festival in Belgium, the Salacia was an eye-catching new addition to The Village Enclosure this year that offered a covered viewing area and a break from the sunshine.
With a clear span of 30 metres, the Salacia was extended for Royal Ascot with a five-metre canopy fitted to allow graphic displays to be added. The roof was built at ground level and then hydraulically lifted into place, offering flexibility for heights up to 12 metres.
In total, Neptunus was involved in the provision of more than 5,000 square metres of temporary structures for Royal Ascot, while managing fit out of services including carpets, linings, lighting and power distribution.
Neptunus managing director Ben Keast says,“ At Royal Ascot there ' s two sides to the offering; the more traditional on one side of the racecourse and the festival atmosphere on the other side where they ' re able to push the boundaries of creativity a little bit more. That ' s why the Salacia structure has been introduced. They are pushing the boundaries of tradition and people’ s expectations, while maintaining the feel of a premium event that always sells out.”
“ The Village Enclosure is a greenfield site, where there is no infrastructure at all, so we build it all from scratch,” says Thompson.“ We ' ve been developing it around the kind of structures used to make it more vibrant. So we have been using more interesting structures, with curves. Neptunus has worked really well alongside us to produce that. In the centre we ' ve had a dome for the last few years, with a live music act in it. That didn ' t seem significant enough; we wanted something that was really eye-catching that we could be proud of, and that ' s where the
Salacia structure that was offered to us by Neptunus came in.”
That move to involve innovative structures that retain the premium feel of Royal Ascot while delivering a fresh and more modern event experience, saw Arena Group brought in to deliver a new look in the more traditional event spaces including the Royal and Queen Anne enclosures.
For Arena Group it was the first time working at Royal Ascot for around two decades. Its key contributions this year included providing three new bespoke structures from its Showblock division, which it acquired in May 2024.
“ We ' re always looking for something different every year to change the atmosphere and look of the event, and sometimes that comes down to what structures we put in,” says Thompson.“ We put the Royal Enclosure out for tender last year, and when Arena came
“ DESIGNING, PRODUCING AND DELIVERING THESE BESPOKE STRUCTURES HAS BEEN A REALLY CREATIVE PROCESS.”
Arena brings Showblock to the Queen Anne Enclosure accessaa. co. uk 31