Case Studies

Prior to Mellors Group purchasing Fantasy Island it was hard to see a long-term future: the site had been suffering from years of little or no investment in new attractions, infrastructure and technology.

The staff, whilst emotionally invested and committed to the site, struggled to take pride in what we offered to the public. It was clear to see the site was in need of overdue investment.

All of those on-site were desperate to make the best of a bad situation but with limited funds and vision it was a difficult situation.

Back in 2016 when Mellors Group purchased Fantasy Island things began to change immediately, the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the Directors was infectious.  New attractions were sourced and installed within days, the morale and pride of the staff was reinvigorated and noticeable changes in the appearance and value of the site began to occur.

In the 3 seasons since Mellors Group acquired the business the site has seen the introduction of new attractions, ground-breaking technology-based entertainment and an enhanced customer experience, bringing the excitement and magic back to Ingoldmells.

The customer journey and satisfaction has improved dramatically helping the site to become established as one of the country’s leading multi-faceted leisure offers.

Royal Parks is an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and responsible for maintaining 5,000 acres of urban parkland within the heart of London. The Parks relies on income from its events programme to support the day to day management and maintenance of its facilities. Hyde Park is the most high profile park within London and hosts a number of major internationally recognised events throughout the year.

The Challenge

In 2011 the Royal Parks made plans to deliver a series of events and activities to support the Royal Wedding. This included bringing a main attraction to support the screening of the Royal Wedding to the large crowds expected to celebrate the event within Hyde Park. Royal Parks were keen to ensure that operators were able to work with them to develop an offer that was professionally and efficiently with consideration to the site and surrounding environment. The ride also had to be of a standard befitting a Royal occasion with consideration to the high security surrounding the wedding and the initial low profile that was required prior to open.

The Solution

Mellors Group Events submitted a successful bid to bring its giant observation wheel to the event. The ride had to address a number of site constraints to ensure it could build, operate and dismantle to time and with a minimum of inconvenience to other park users. The ride was brought onto site overnight. Imagery incorporating the Royal Wedding and Royal Parks was branded onto the gondolas and the wheel was painted to ensure it was in optimum condition.

Piccadilly Gardens is the most prominent green space in Manchester, located in the heart of the city centre, where the main shops of Market Street meet the cultural Northern Quarter. The area has long been the central hub of Manchester’s public transport system with trams and buses converging here. The space is owned by Manchester City Council and was reconfigured in 2002 with a new water feature and concrete pavilion by noted Japanese architect Tadao Ando.

The Challenge

Manchester City Council was seeking to turn Piccadilly Gardens into a premier family friendly destination and was keen to introduce a headline attraction to draw attention and tourism to the area. The Council were also seeking an income to support further reinvestment into this area as an event space with plans for a children’s play area scheduled to be introduced later this year.

The Solution

Mellors Group Events submitted a successful bid to bring its Starflyer ride to the Gardens. At nearly 70m high, and the tallest mobile ride attraction in Europe, there was a consensus within the Council that this ride would be a spectacular focal point to promote the area.
We worked closely with the Council to ensure that there was no disruption or damage to this sensitive site, which presented a variety of site and traffic related challenges. Our structural engineers were engaged to carry out loading point spread calculations to ensure that this ride could safely be located directly above the subterranean water pumping station.

Liverpool One is a not for profit company owned by Grosvenor Estates and responsible for the Liverpool One retail centre which at the time of its completion was the largest regeneration project of its kind in Europe with 1.65 million square feet of shopping and leisure.

The Challenge

Within the shopping centre lies the five acre Chavasse Park. The Park occupies an elevated position within the centre on top of the multi storey car park. Access and use of the Park is severely restricted with height restrictions, delicate surfaces and unusual shapes and gradients to contend with. Surrounding the park are a variety of food and restaurant outlets with the main shops occupying a lower level and ground main street areas linked to the rest of the city centre. The Park has a relatively low footfall compared to the rest of the centre and Liverpool One were keen to see the area used as a quality event destination to both increase the dwell time of existing users and encourage new users to the park and the centre.

The Solution

Mellors Group Events worked with the management team at Liverpool One to create a beach themed event concept “Paradise in the Park” and agreed a site plan and event format which transformed the park area into a city beach for the entire summer duration. The site area made use of the unused compound area, transforming it into a beach with a large paddling pool overlooked by a raised decked area. This effectively removed the gradient and entirely covered the unused compound with timber decking, sand and water. The decked area featured a Caribbean themed bar, catering units and picnic / food area. The event branding and promotion was detailed and consistent throughout. All of the units, rides, staff uniforms, safety signage and equipment were branded using the “Paradise in the Park” logo.

The Southbank Centre is a world-famous arts centre occupying a 21 acre site in the midst of London’s vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. Every year, a diverse and creative range of cultural events, musicians and artists of the highest quality from around the world attract millions of visitors making it one of the most popular and diverse cultural destinations in the country.
The Centre is managed as a Trust and is heavily reliant on income from its events programme to support the day to day management and maintenance of its facilities.

The Challenge

Last year the Southbank Centre made plans to celebrate its 60th Anniversary by organising a Festival of the World, in recognition of the Festival of Britain for which it was originally formed in the 1950’s. A professional and experienced operator was sought to bring headline ride attractions to support the main London Wonderground event, which was to be based on the Coney Island fairground at New York.

The Solution

Mellors Group Events submitted a successful bid to bring its Starflyer ride, rollercoaster and supporting sideshow attractions to the event. We worked with the Southbank Centre to create a large decked boardwalk area with 1950’s style imagery set on plywood hoardings. The main headline attraction was our Starflyer ride which was purchased and converted from a static attraction into a fully mobile attraction for this event. The ride was selected as a tribute to both the famous Paratrooper ride at Coney Island and the Skylon monument which used to grace the Thames boardwalk.

The Urban City Beach concept delivered by the Mellors Group to Nottingham City Centre in 2009 was the first of its kind. This event, which attracted worldwide publicity, has now run for numerous consecutive years.

Our previous events have attracted local, regional, national and international press – everything from the Mumbai Times, Australian Press, Brazilian TV, Reuters Press, Daily Telegraph, The Sun, BBC News, The Guardian, GMTV and Shropshire Star(!)

Each beach event is bespoke and themed to suit the client requirements and the layout of each site. The event features a giant sandpit and paddling pool with raised and decked area supporting a bar and refreshments within a variety of thatched wooden beach huts.
It is possible to make the urban beach self funding and even earn revenue at the same time as increasing dwell time by surrounding the event with attractions. Each event is branded consistently throughout and heavily marketed through all media. There is usually a stage area for live and recorded entertainment from bands, dance acts and other compatible performers. The beach and bar area can also be used for this purpose. Previous sponsors include Eon, Jet 2, the Spanish Tourist Board, NPower, Speedo and many local businesses.

Sara-Ellen Williams, Head of Events, London Legacy Development Corporation, said:

“BeachEast at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was a fantastic success with 450,000 visitors flocking to its white stretch of sand in the first year alone. The UK’s largest urban beach attracted a diverse mix of visitors from east London and beyond, and visitor feedback told us people were keen for BeachEast to return to the Park this summer. Mellors should be proud of BeachEast and its entertainment and sporting offer, including beach volleyball, boccia and netball. It was great that visitors had a chance to try out both Olympic and non-Olympic sports as well as enjoy the local community offering, from a steel band to singers. Mellors really brought a flavour of the seaside to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and we look forward to welcoming them back in summer 2016.”