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Commonwealth Games springboard for future fencing gold

Zaun Ltd News and PR from Zaun Ltd - Published 28 September 2019 A champion Olympic fencer from Wolverhampton is champing at the bit for the opportunities afforded by the 2022 Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham in three years.
High security fencing manufacturer Zaun Ltd supplied 23km of permanent fencing for various stadia at the London 2012 Olympics.

And Zaun then secured the Athletes Village, Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Celtic Park, Hampden Park, Toryglen, Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls and the SECC at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Small wonder therefore that they are so excited about the Games coming to the Midlands next time out.

Owner, director and co-founder Alastair Henman says:  “The feedback we got from the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Police Scotland and the Home Office was very positive, and all were pleased with the security at the Games.

“So, we are hoping to capitalise on that, our London Olympics experience and a host of keynote political summits to secure more major events in the future.“

Innovation was the key to winning the initial Olympic work, thinking about the project in a different way using technical capabilities of existing machines to highlight potential savings.

Back in 2008, Zaun was an unknown in major events security and simply registered for two opportunities on the portal competefor.com, which has become an ongoing service used in the supply chain since its successful introduction for the London 2012 Games.

But that has all changed, as Henman explains: “The 2014 Commonwealth Games followed, with just a simple introduction letter and a follow-up call to the organising committee, who gave us details of who we should be speaking to.

“We now had a reputation for innovation, quality and delivery at the greatest show on earth, which was a passport to all sorts of other work.”

Zaun developed its PAS 68 MultiFence especially to resist hostile vehicle and mob attacks at the London 2012 Olympics.  The UK Intellectual Property Office has since granted Zaun a patent for it.

Other innovations for the Olympics were many and varied: some flood gates, designed to allow debris and water flow in case of a storm or flooding, with the bottom part of the fencing containing movable panels that could be opened; what became dubbed the Obama Gates, bulletproof gates for VIPs to the Olympic Stadium, protecting them as they entered and left the stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies; bespoke fence-mounted working platforms so contractors could install kilometres of fencing toppings safely when plant access was restricted; and 4-metre high solid archery hoardings mounted on concrete vehicle barriers to protect spectators from being shot with arrows at LordÂ’s!

Zaun also created a method for removing CCTV post tops after the Games, negating the need for more than 600 unnecessary duplicate columns every 25m for 17km, with CCTV bases poured on site as the time frame was too short for the bases to be cast off site in time, spawning a new product line for Zaun.

The two Games alone brought Zaun £35m of contracts over six or seven years.  But it was the introduction to all manner of other contracts that was the real prize.
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We now have a reputation for innovation, quality and delivery at the greatest show on earth, which isa passport to other work

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