Temporary Structures for the Ice Skate Birmingham Event

Danter Attractions approached HTS TENTIQ for the supply of two Manhattan temporary structures to support their “Ice Skate Birmingham” offering in Centenary Square, Birmingham — one of the city’s most visible seasonal event venues. As specialists in premium temporary structures for high-profile events, HTS TENTIQ was brought in to deliver the final, and arguably most important, piece of the puzzle.

Danter Attractions had hired similar structures for previous seasons, but for this installation they wanted to purchase their own temporary structures outright. They already owned every other element of the event setup — ice machines, sound and lighting production, skates, furniture and more — so the structures needed to be a long-term investment rather than a short-term hire.

Crucially, the brief went beyond simply providing shelter. Danter Attractions wanted structures with genuine wow factor: a venue people would talk about, remember and return to, rather than just another “ice rink in a marquee.” That meant finding a temporary structure solution that could deliver the scale, glazing and finish of a permanent building, while still being fast to design, manufacture and install in time for the seasonal opening. The Manhattan structures, with their striking full-height glazing and multi-level design, were built to meet exactly that challenge — and they certainly did not disappoint.

Having had an initial discussion followed by various visits to site to measure, review and discuss further, the proposed structures were 30m x 30m x 6m and 10m x 25m x 7m (double deck), both structures complete with the HTS heavy duty floor systems, fully glazed on all sides with a balcony on the first floor of the 10m structure to support a bar area.

The install site is particularly challenging and there were a number of design details that needed to be carefully considered with the structures footprint sitting within not just a large 16m open basement to adjacent Birmingham Library but a number of large non-removable lamp columns one of which is located directly within the centre of the ice rink.

Design interface and engagement with third party suppliers of a suspended jack leg system was also required due to the site gradient ranging from 0 to 1.5m in height.

The structures were designed, manufactured and delivered to site in just under 8 weeks from confirmation of order with dedicated design team meetings weekly to ensure everything was tracked and project managed correctly, a fantastic achievement by all involved.

The structures and floor were provided with a complete set of site specific wind and snow load engineering calculations along with residual risk registers and all technical drawings.

Although the client installed the structures themselves HTS provided full on-site support during the installation from our Global Installations Manager who remained on site for the duration of the build.

HTS also provided full support and all relevant documentation for the Building Control application that supports the installation yearly.

The structures will now be installed annually from early October to Early January by the client.