Festival production and site management

Festival production, from empty field to gates open

Production is where festival budgets are won or lost: the build schedule, infrastructure hire, crew rotas, contractor coordination and the event management plan the licensing officer actually approves. We produce music, food and brand-funded festivals across the UK — as the production partner behind your team, or as the organiser that takes the whole event.

Full site build: stages, power, water, sanitation and fencing
Licensing, Event Management Plan and Safety Advisory Group handled in-house
Crew, contractors and artist advancing on one production schedule
Kit list and line-item budget before you commit to anything

Talk to a senior planner +44 207 183 3436

Music festival production

A music festival is a power and logistics exercise with a stage on top. We specify the main stage and secondary spaces to headcount and licence hours, size generators and distribution for the real load, plan vehicle movements so build traffic and public never mix, and hold the noise limits at boundary that the licence depends on.

Stage, sound, lighting and delay-tower specification to audience size
Generator sizing, distribution, fuel schedule and redundancy
Backstage, artist village, dressing and production office infrastructure
Noise management plan and boundary monitoring for licensed sites

Licensing and the event management plan

The Event Management Plan is the document that decides whether the event happens. We write it, submit it, and represent the event at the Safety Advisory Group — covering crowd management, medical provision, security, fire safety, traffic, welfare and the emergency procedures the authority expects to see rehearsed, not written the week before.

Premises licence or Temporary Event Notice application
Event Management Plan, risk assessments and method statements
SAG representation and condition tracking to sign-off
Security, medical and stewarding provision scaled to the risk assessment

What a festival kit list actually contains

Beyond the stage: trackway for soft ground, Heras fencing and pedestrian barriers, toilets and welfare to licence-hour ratios, potable water and waste management, lighting towers for overnight working, radios and comms, accreditation and wristbanding, traders' power and water, and the back-of-house compound nobody sees but everything depends on.

Trackway, matting and ground protection surveyed before quoting
Fencing, barriers and crowd-management hardware
Sanitation and welfare calculated from licence hours and alcohol sales
Site comms, accreditation and access control across zones

Brand-funded and private festivals

Not every festival sells tickets. We produce closed-site brand festivals, company festivals and private events where the budget comes from a sponsor or employer rather than the gate — the same infrastructure and safety standard, without the ticketing risk.

Indicative budgets

What this typically costs, before you take a number to finance

Ranges reflect the scope we usually deliver at each level. Site conditions, season and specification move them — a costed proposal replaces the band within 24 hours of your brief.

Single-stage event, up to 1,000

£40k–£90k indicative

Main stage with sound, lighting and cover
Power, sanitation, fencing and welfare
Licensing, EMP and safety documentation
Production manager, site crew and security

Multi-stage festival, 1,000–5,000

£90k–£300k indicative

Multiple stages and programming spaces
Full site infrastructure and trader services
Medical, security, traffic and stewarding plan
Artist advancing and back-of-house compound

Multi-day festival, 5,000+

£300k+ indicative

Multi-day licensing and overnight site management
Campsite infrastructure and 24-hour operations
Full production office, crew catering and comms
Sponsor delivery and content production support

How we run it

01
Feasibility and site survey
Access, ground conditions, power, neighbours and licensable hours assessed before a budget is written.
02
Production plan and kit list
Scaled site plan, full infrastructure kit list and a line-item budget with the contingency shown, not hidden.
03
Licensing and safety
EMP, risk assessments and licence application submitted to the authority's timetable, with SAG representation.
04
Contracting and scheduling
Stages, power, sanitation, security, medical and crew contracted against a build and de-rig programme.
05
Build, show, de-rig
A production manager on site from first delivery to final clear, with a live event control room during show days.

From the delivery side

Things worth knowing before you brief anyone

Generator loads are routinely under-specified; we calculate from actual trader, stage and site lighting draw, not a rule of thumb.
Trackway on wet ground is the most common six-figure surprise on greenfield sites — ground survey before quote, always.
Boundary noise limits set the stage orientation and the curfew; the site design follows the licence, not the other way round.
Crew welfare — catering, toilets, rest breaks and overnight security — is a licensing condition, not an optional extra.

Frequently asked

How much does it cost to produce a festival in the UK?

Indicatively, a single-stage event for up to 1,000 people runs £40k–£90k, a multi-stage festival for 1,000–5,000 runs £90k–£300k, and multi-day events above that. Site conditions — ground, access, power, neighbours — drive the variance more than headcount.

Do you handle festival licensing?

Yes. We prepare the Event Management Plan, risk assessments and method statements, apply for the premises licence or Temporary Event Notice, and represent the event at the local authority Safety Advisory Group through to sign-off.

How far ahead should festival production start?

Nine to twelve months for a licensed public event. The venue, main stage suppliers and the authority's timetable all move on that scale — a Temporary Event Notice alone needs 10 working days, and a full premises licence considerably longer.

Can you produce a private or brand-funded festival?

Yes — closed-site festivals for brands and employers carry the same infrastructure and safety standard as public events, without ticketing or gate risk. See our corporate festivals page for the employee-facing format.

Do you supply stages, power and fencing directly?

We contract and manage the full kit list — stages, power, sanitation, fencing, trackway, lighting and comms — through vetted suppliers on a single production schedule and a single invoice.