Arena Seating transformed Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with grandstand seating, media studios, platforms for broadcast cameras or photographers and viewing access platforms for the Unibet EuroHockey Championships, 21-30 August.

Arena Seating’s project director Terry Smith returned to East London to continue building Arena Group’s 2012 Olympic Games legacy by installing temporary event infra-structure to create a stadium suitable for a global sporting event.

Lee Valley stadium was constructed to have a permanent seated capacity of 3,000, with the flexibility to be expanded for particular flagship events.

EuroHockey Championship director Sue Catton (pictured below) explains: “This is the first of four international tournaments England Hockey is hosting over consecutive years, so we’re starting on a journey to build a fan-base and we searched for a supply partner to share that journey.

“Arena Seating’s track record impressed us and we have really valued the people at Arena, the quality of their work has shone through. They have been enthusiastic and very thorough in working with us, from surveying the venue to installing the equipment. It has felt like a true partnership.”

Lee Valley stadium has a permanent seating capacity of 3,000, which has been increased with the addition of 1,864 clearview seats, split between two grandstands behind each of the goals.

To host an international event of this nature also required additional commentary studios, along with broadcast camera and photographers platforms to accommodate the world’s media, a Unibet sponsor platform and a presentation platform overlooking the stadium.

These were constructed using the company’s proprietary Arena Deck system with glass handrails, for a ‘contemporary aesthetic’.

Catton continued: “As well as the fantastic sightlines clearview has given us, everyone has been very impressed how well the temporary infrastructure has integrated into the look and feel of the existing stadium. The join from permanent to temporary is very professional, so whole stadium feels permanent, down to details like the blue net cladding Arena has used to blend in with the pitch.

“Hosting the Euro’s has been a great shop window for the sport. We’ve already experienced a 40% uptake since the 2012 Olympics. We’ve doubled our initial audience target in selling 30,000 tickets and having had such a great atmosphere inside the stadium we’re hoping we can keep attracting new fans (and participants) as we move straight into our national HockeyFest after these champs.”

Arena Group- England Hockey. Sue Catton. (1 of 2)