Festival Operations & Logistics
Build and de-rig schedules, traffic and parking plans, contractor coordination, artist and crew movement, show control and incident response. We keep everyone pulling in the same direction.
Festival operations, site management & health and safety
Serious operations, site & safety for festivals and live events.
Appleyard Events partners with organisers to plan, build and run safe, efficient sites — from the first CAD drawing to the last vehicle off site. No guesswork, no “that’ll probably be fine”.
Site snapshot
One brain across ops, site & safety.
From car parks and glamping fields to arenas, fire lanes and welfare — we design how your site works long before anyone arrives.
Festival operations
Build & derig, traffic plans, control, comms and incident response.
Site infrastructure
CAD layouts, trackway, power, water, waste and welfare stitched together.
Health & safety
Event safety plans, risk assessments, CDM and on-site H&S management.
Calm leadership
Tough decisions, handled without drama when the pressure is on.
Trusted by teams who need someone that landowners, licensing and production all see as “the grown-up in the room”.
20+ years in live events
Who we support
Trusted by organisers of complex live events.
We specialise in multi-day festivals, large church gatherings and corporate experiences that need tight operations, robust safety and a site that simply works.
Camping festivals & multi-day gatherings
Large church & worship events
Family festivals & conferences
Corporate & brand experiences
Services
What we do — end to end.
Three core strands cover the full lifecycle of your event: from blank field and first safety plan to de-rig and sign-off.
Site Management & Infrastructure
CAD site layouts, arena and campsite design, trackway and fencing, power and water, waste, welfare and glamping – all planned around flow, safety and experience, not just “where things might fit”.
Health & Safety Consultancy
Event safety plans, risk assessments, CDM, licensing support, safety briefings and on-site H&S management that protects people, reputation and future licences.
Depth of experience
Experience you can lean on when it counts.
We bring production roots, site management expertise and formal H&S training together, so your event isn't being held together by luck and goodwill.
20+ years
in live events and production
10,000+
capacity camping sites planned & managed
0
major incidents under our H&S management
Recognised
for technical excellence & calm leadership
Every event is different — but the principles are the same: clear plans, clear communication and clear accountability from concept to clear ground.
Recent work
A sample of the sites we’ve supported.
Each event has its own site, stakeholders and constraints. We redesign from the ground up rather than copy last year’s plan.
Family camping festival
Wildfires – multi-day worship & teaching festival
Full operations and site management for a family-focused camping festival, including site layout, traffic plans, welfare and H&S across arenas, villages and kids/youth spaces.
Role: Operations & Site Management, H&S Consultancy
Multi-stage outdoor event
Big Church Festival – large-scale live event
Supporting complex site infrastructure, arena layouts and access routes across multiple stages and zones, balancing artist, audience and operational needs.
Role: Site & Operations Support
Corporate & immersive
Corporate & immersive brand experiences
Bespoke layouts and operations for conferences, brand experiences and immersive environments where safety, guest flow and technical reliability are critical.
Role: Site & Technical Operations, H&S
How we work
A clear process from first call to clear ground.
We keep things structured so you know what’s happening, who’s responsible and where the risk sits – at every stage.
1. Discovery & site picture
We start with your vision, constraints, stakeholders and existing plans. Capacity, site access, show content,
budget and licensing position.
2. Layout, flows & key risks
CAD layouts, high-level traffic and people flows, key safety pinch points and infrastructure needs mapped out
so everyone can visualise the site.
3. Detailed ops & H&S planning
Build/derig schedules, contractor coordination, event safety plans, risk assessments and documentation for
landowners and authorities.
4. On-site delivery & calm decisions
On-site operations, safety leadership and decision-making during build, live days and de-rig – keeping things
moving and issues contained.
What people say
Calm, competent and trusted on site.
Real quotes land best here. Swap these for your own once you’ve gathered them from organisers, production managers and landowners.
“Phil has that rare ability to see the whole site in his head – from car parks to fire lanes to kids’ venues – and then calmly lead teams to make it real. When things get pressured, he gets calmer.”
Name Surname
Festival Director, [Event Name]
“You always feel that the site is ‘in hand’ when Appleyard Events are leading operations and safety. They see risks before they appear and deal with the small stuff before it becomes big.”
Name Surname
Production Manager, [Organisation]
About
Led by experience, grounded in reality.
Appleyard Events is led by Phil Appleyard – operations and site manager with roots in production and a focus on safety, flow and experience.
Starting in theatre and technical production, Phil has worked across festivals, large church gatherings, corporate experiences and immersive events – always with a focus on how people move, how sites function and how to keep everyone safe.
Today, Appleyard Events specialises in festival operations, site management and health & safety consultancy, bringing calm leadership, clear communication and robust planning to events where there’s a lot at stake – financially, reputationally and spiritually.
Based in the UK and working nationally and internationally, we’re comfortable in the detail of CAD drawings, the politics of licensing meetings and the boots-on-the-ground reality of build and de-rig.
Insights & resources
Sharing what we’ve learnt along the way.
Turn your expertise into articles, checklists or PDFs here. Even a few short pieces can position you as the go-to for thoughtful, grounded advice.
Guide
Designing a camping festival site that actually flows
A practical way to think about arenas, camping, parking and fire lanes – without painting yourself into a corner.
Checklist
10 questions every organiser should ask about H&S
Use this as an internal checklist or as something you share with your team as you move towards licensing.
Article
Why “we’ll just do what we did last year” is risky
Sites, capacities, audiences and expectations change. Here’s how to respect experience without copy-pasting plans.
Planning a festival or large live event?
Share a few details about your event and we’ll schedule a 20-minute discovery call to talk through your site, challenges and options. No pressure, no jargon – just an honest conversation about what it will take to get there safely.
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