Abu Dhabi Showdown

---

The context:

A temporary structure was built in Abu Dhabi in September 2019 to host a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert as well as a UFC tournament. 15,000 spectators were expected for both these events, with very limited transport infrastructure. IMG, the event organiser contacted us to review the transportation assumptions and analyse the flow of spectators outside and inside the temporary venue.

What we did:

We thoroughly reviewed the transport assumptions in terms of number of buses, parking spaces and taxis to check if the demand could be carried by the transport system. We have split the flows into four categories: artists, athletes, visitors from the General Attendance and VIP visitors, with different profiles depending on the visited event and the use of Food & Beverage (F&B) facilities ahead and after the show. We have set up a dynamic pedestrian flow model of the area and computed the expected visitors level of services (ie density) at the search areas, F&B locations and inside the arena. We have set up ingress, egress and evacuation scenarios.

The value for our client:

Thanks to our analysis, our client was able to review the queuing spaces in various areas, ahead of the event, making sure the use of space was optimised for the actual demand. Some doors have been widened to avoid congestion in case of evacuation. The transport plan was strengthened, and the client was reinsured that the evacuation scenarios were carefully planned. The event went very well, with the expected attendance and no safety or comfort issue.