De Boer supplies facilities for Pope's historic visit

Structure specialist De Boer supplied more than 7,500 square metres of temporary accommodation as international events specialists WRG Creative Communication co-ordinated the final leg of Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to the UK.

Highly successful visit
Despite wet weather, a 70,000-strong crowd witnessed the highly successful visit to Cofton Park in Birmingham, which formed part of the Pope’s four-day tour. 

Important contract
John Cochrane, De Boer’s Sales Director – Events, said: “This was an important contract for us because the eyes of the world were on the Pope for this first-ever state visit to Britain which was televised all over the globe.”

Jumbo Halls, Alu Halls and Chalets
De Boer’s team took just eight days to install Jumbo Halls, Alu Halls and Chalets to form crew catering facilities, a medical centre and media centre plus accreditation and merchandising areas.

Logistical challenges
The extremely high-profile nature of the event meant security and logistics were a challenge for organisers, police and Vatican officials.

Stunning service
Pope Benedict held a mass at Cofton Park for the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman – the first step on the road to making Cardinal Newman a saint. A choir of over 1,000 drawn from parishes throughout the archdiocese of Birmingham sang in front of around 70,000 ticket holders as part of the service. Many thousands more people lined the route as the Pope made his way to the mass.

Rolling fields and trees
Cofton Park is 135 acres of rolling fields and trees and is next to Rednal where Cardinal Newman, a much-loved Victorian theologian, is buried. The mass at Cofton Park came on the final day of the Pope’s historic visit to the UK. It was the first beatification carried out by Pope Benedict XVI since he was elected Pope in 2005. During the service he blessed the six-foot statue of Cardinal Newman.

Environments for prestigious events
WRG Creative Communication has been responsible for creating environments for some of the world’s most prestigious events over the past two decades. Operating from offices in London, Manchester and Doha WRG’s design team’s projects included last year’s G20 economic summit of world leaders in London. 

(Photo courtesy of WRG Creative Communication)