g live annual report 2011 / 2012 - borough of guildford · 2012-11-21 · g live annual report...

G Live Annual Report 2011/2012

1 | P a g e

G Live Annual Report 2011 / 2012

Newton Faulkner Concert

Alvin Hargreaves: G Live Venue Director October 2012:

Item 6Appendix 2


2 | P a g e

Contents G Live Annual Report 2012 ..................................................................................................................... 1

1. Purpose of report ........................................................................................................................ 3

2. Introduction & Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 4

3. Programme Balance and Range - Main Hall ............................................................................... 6

4. Studio and Reception Room Activity (non-Main Hall activity).................................................. 11

5. The Operator Agreement and Key Performance Indicators ..................................................... 13

6. Financial Performance .............................................................................................................. 14

7. Customer Satisfaction Information ........................................................................................... 15

8. Health & Safety at Work ........................................................................................................... 16

Appendices Marketing Summary Annual Report at Annexe 1 Creative Learning Annual Report at Annexe 2 Buildings & Health & Safety Annual Report at Annexe 3 Annual Financial Summary at Annexe 4

Item 6Appendix 2


3 | P a g e

1. Purpose of report This report is a summary of G Live’s first full year of activity and sets out the venue’s performance against the indicative performance indicators in the Operator Agreement between HQ Theatres and Guildford Borough Council. It should be noted that, for the purposes of the first year report, pre-opening activity in September 2011 is included in the programme and financial analysis. Thus the reporting period is the 15th September 2011 to 30th September 2012, inclusive. Future contract years will run from 1st October – 30th September. The basis of the report is the performance, community and corporate events activity as reported to GBC at the Monthly Service Review Meetings (MSRM) held since the commencement of the contract last September. G Live’s Director has presented monthly summary reports as follows;

The live programme, including final ticket sales

Financial Summary for the wider business

Creative Learning / Community activity

Marketing activity

A summary of future programme challenges and opportunities

Post-handover building related issues and health & safety In addition, the ‘live’ programme, broken down by genre against the Operator Agreement KPI’s, has been reported at the quarterly Liaison Committee Meeting (LCM) between HQT and GBC. This process is concluded for the first year with the Annual Review Meeting and the presentation of this Annual Report to GBC’s Executive and Scrutiny Committees.

Item 6Appendix 2


4 | P a g e

2. Introduction & Executive Summary The Breadth of programme is G Live’s major strength as a live entertainment venue. G Live isn’t Wembley Arena or the Royal Opera House, but it is a fabulous collection of spaces that are able to present a diverse yet complementary range of shows and events that combine to make the venue rather special and quite unique in many ways. G Live’s first year has been a great success given the challenges facing a brand-new venue developing both its programme and its audiences from a standing start. The venue had ‘zero’ relationships with ticket buying customers (a database of nil) prior to opening and has been striving to build a weighty, credible and popular programme of events. This has required a significant marketing effort to reach potential audiences for a truly diverse programme of events and to re-establish Guildford as a destination with a quality entertainment, music and events’ venue. The venue’s headline strategic marketing activity has been reported to the Monthly Service Review Meetings (MSRM) with Guildford Borough Council and the Marketing Summary Annual Report is also attached at Annexe 1. The same challenges applied equally to the process of building relationships and credibility within the live events’ industry. There have been many early successes, particularly for family events, dance, opera, music and comedy, but, it should be understood that this is an on-going process. HQT and GBC are on a journey whereby the programme may not be fully optimised for a couple of years as the Guildford specific programme and audiences build. The community engagement programme at G Live has been a significant success with a full calendar of activity. Additionally, under the venue’s Creative Learning – ‘Think, Make, Do’ banner, partnerships have been forged with most, if not all, of the significant local arts, music and performance organisations. G Live has also hosted its first Summer Project for young people culminating in a highly ambitious bespoke production of Alice in Wonderland. Further details are included in this report and attached in the Creative Learning Annual Report at Annexe 2. G Live has presented a significant programme of conferences and private events. The events team have made remarkable inroads into the Guildford Business Community securing events with Colgate Palmolive, EA Games, Sanofi, Allianz, Barlow Robins and many others. This is in addition to the events and partnership working with our corporate sponsors; Willmott Dixon, Charles Russell, Hamptons International, K2, Chapters, Motion, Scattergoods, Eagle Radio and the Radisson Hotel. The narrative of the programming and community successes and challenges has been a story told through the Monthly Service Review Meetings and as such GBC and HQT have regularly discussed the relative progress against the Operator Agreement’s indicative KPI’s. A full breakdown of activity follows below. Mobilising a new arts, entertainment and conference venue is a complex and challenging process. The pre-opening period was a critical phase that allowed for the commissioning of plant and equipment alongside the recruitment and training of staff. Broadly speaking the process was well managed and appropriately supported by the Project Team (GBC, Willmott Dixon, John Setra (K2), Martin Taylor (MDA) and HQT). This mitigated the post-opening service delivery risks and ensured the safe operation of the venue. However, there were a number of post-handover building snags, some of which caused significant operational challenges. Not least among these was the complete failure of the venue’s mains power supply system in September 2011. The first major and dramatic

Item 6Appendix 2


5 | P a g e

power related problem occurred during the venue’s opening London Symphony Orchestra gala concert resulting in the complete loss of power and lighting. Power related uncertainty then persisted throughout the autumn and winter seasons. Operating the venue under these conditions was hugely challenging and far from ideal. Thankfully, these issues are now resolved. The process of detailed snagging has been lengthy and on-going throughout the first year ‘guarantee period’. The last remaining items are now being completed, although, some 13 months after opening (15 months after the building handover to HQT) the venue’s external electronic signage (including LCD screens) remains incomplete due to project related technical and planning frustrations. This has adversely impacted on both the venue’s operation and general marketing activity. Further details are included in the Buildings & Health & Safety Annual Report at Annexe 3.

The accounts for the first year of operation are in line with HQT’s / Qdos’ business plan for the G Live. The financial picture at the end of the year reflects the opportunity costs of positive change which often occur when a new management contract begins. HQT / Qdos is confident that, in line with its business plan, the accounts of years two and three will move into profit. The first year of operation of G Live has confirmed HQT’s / Qdos’ positive expectations. Details are include later in this report and in the Annual Financial Summary at Annexe 4 After 12months G Live has established itself within the wider cultural offer of Guildford, (alongside existing venues and arts providers), with a heavy and complementary programme of professional and community events that elevate the overall mass of cultural activity in the town to new levels. G Live’s programme has included really significant local and community use, as well as, an aspirational live programme attracting the very best in UK and international events to Guildford. G Live adds to the cultural richness of Guildford with the direct and indirect social and economic impacts this brings. The venue plays its part in raising local pride and confidence further adding to the attractiveness of Guildford as town in which to invest and as a fantastic place in which to live, work and relax. G Live is a major catalyst for visitors to Guildford, across entertainment, leisure and business tourism sectors, which undoubtedly helps Guildford to unlock the economic benefits from visitors enjoying the venue and the wider town centre businesses including restaurants, cafes, shopping and accommodation.

Item 6Appendix 2


6 | P a g e

3. Programme Balance and Range - Main Hall The activity in G Live’s Main Hall (combined for the period 15th September 2011 to 30th September 2012) is illustrated in the following table with further details broken down by genre below. The Operator Agreement’s indicative number of performances in each category represents a benchmark against which to measure the weight of G Live’s programme. However, it should be noted that the development of G Live’s ‘optimum programme’ will take time as the venue becomes established within the live events’ industry. Many aspects of the venue’s programme are subject to the availability of ‘product’ of a suitable scale and the alignment of the venue’s diary (date availability) with the routing of national tours to peer venues of a similar size. Whilst G Live can influence product selection and position itself within the industry to programme the full range of genres and shows included in the agreement, it is generally unable to actually create new product from scratch and will, therefore, be subject to the vagaries of touring and industry fluctuations of artists / product availability.

Figure 1. Main Hall Programme

Children’s & Family Events included;

Peppa Pig, Bob The Builder, Under 16’s Discos, Science Museum Live, Cinderella on Ice, Children’s Concerts, Steve Backshall, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Angelina Ballerina and The Gruffalo.

Main Hall Combined

September 2011 - September 2012

Categories Code

GBC Target

Perfs /yr Actual Perfs Attend

% of GBC

target

Children's / Family Ents FAM 31 32 16,891 103

Classical (Orch/Opera/Big Bands) CLAS 18 18 9,568 100

Comedy / Spoken Word COM 45 32 23,020 71

Dance / Stage Musicals MUS 42 41 21,299 98

GPO GPO 4 2 1,596 50

Others OTH 6 9 4,015 150

Rock & Pop standing RPS 14 7 9,181 50

Rock, Pop, Folk, Jazz & World – seated POP 84 38 20,721 45

Sport SPO 6 1 111 17

Community Events COMM 15 60 15,078 400

GBC KPI sub total (inc Community x15) 265 240 120,522 91

Get in / Get out / Production GET - 12 -

Internal Events INT - 2 225

Rehearsal REH - 10 347

sub total - 24 572

Conference CON - 6 3,700

Dining / Banquet DIN - 4 1,417

Exhibition EXH - 6 1,000

Hospitality Other HOSP - 7 2,405

sub total - 24 9,480

Total 265 288 130,574

Item 6Appendix 2


7 | P a g e

There were 32 performances that attracted nearly 17,000 visitors in this category.

It was a particularly strong genre for G Live in its inaugural year with high quality product and programme breadth clearly evident.

Classical (orchestras, opera and big bands) Events included;

London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, The HM Band of the Royal Marines, Madame Butterfly, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band, Guildford Choral Society, London Festival Opera, Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Syd Lawrence Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Vivace Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, English Touring Opera (ETO), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Guildford Symphony Orchestra.

The complementary balance of world-class international orchestras (eg; LSO, RPO as part of the first International Orchestral Concert Series) together with local orchestras and choral societies has enabled the presentation of a wealth of classically orientated concerts with broad ranging repertoires that truly exploit G Live’s excellent acoustics.

G Live has also welcomed nationally significant opera (ETO) and quality Big Bands back to Guildford.

Please note that the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra is not included in this category – reported separately below.

Comedy & Spoken Word Events included;

Stephen Merchant, Al Murray, Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Pam Ayres, Jimmy Carr, Micky Flanagan, Milton Jones, The Hellfire Comedy Club, Paul Merton, Dara O’Briain, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Ken Dodd, Peter Alliss, etc.

Spoken word events from Radio 4’s broadcast of ‘Sorry, Haven’t A Clue’ to Sir Ranulph Fiennes presentation, together with, a ‘who’s who’ of touring UK comedians has ensured a very diverse and successful programming strand for G Live with extremely broad appeal.

G Live has proved to be very suitable for these events with the availability of quality product often being the only limiting factor in securing dates.

32 performances is lower than the indicative KPI of 45 set in the Operator Agreement but is a level that probably better reflects a realistic number of this type of event at the venue going forward.

Relationships with all of the major promoters are in place and we expect this genre to continue to be strong in future years.

Dance / Staged Musicals Events included;

Blood Brothers, Siberian State Ballet, Joseph, Dreamboats & Petticoats, Brendon Cole, BalletBoyz, Rodgers & Hammerstein, The Bugle Boy, Dancing in the Street, Strictly presents, West End Men, etc.

G Live has successfully re-introduced commercial large-scale ballet to Guildford with the hugely popular Siberian State Ballet Company (Swan Lake, Nutcracker), as well as, sold-out performances by the BalletBoyz and Brendon Cole.

Item 6Appendix 2


8 | P a g e

G Live’s auditorium and stage suits large scale musicals very well so long as they can be simply staged, (no theatrical flying as G Live does not have a fly-tower). Sales for Blood Brothers were challenging in the very early post-opening period but Joseph did extremely well over Christmas.

Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra (GPO) Two GPO concerts were presented at G Live with a combined attendance of 1,596.

The GPO and G Live marketing teams worked in partnership to jointly promote the concerts with a great deal of success.

G Live would have liked to present more GPO concerts in the first year. However, in the early months of G Live’s opening period it proved challenging to align the venue’s availability with the Orchestra’s availability and to meet their specific date requirements. This was due to the relatively short programme planning horizons prior to opening and the limited availability of mainly weekend dates in the busy first autumn season.

More recently G Live has been asked to release the dates that were being held for the Orchestra’s use due to the on-going review of orchestral provision currently being undertaken by GBC. The late release of one of these dates directly resulted in the failure to secure a 3rd party corporate event and G Live was therefore unable to benefit from the associated room hire and hospitality income.

G Live is primed and ready to present further GPO concerts just as soon as the Orchestra is in a position to discuss their date requirements.

Currently the venue is uncertain as to its future role hosting the Orchestra and awaits further guidance from GBC.

‘Others’ Events included;

Psychic Sally Morgan, Vagina Monologues, Moscow State Circus, Mugenko Taiko Drummers, Colin Fry, Cirque du Ciel Shanghai, We’ll Meet Again, etc.

This is a ‘catch-all’ category for a range of events as listed above.

It’s a tricky category to programme and relies on strong product availability and good timing of tours to maximise on the profile of the act and possibly to fill dates in off-peak and shoulder seasons.

Rock & Pop (standing format) Events included;

Adam Ant, Kaiser Chiefs, Thin Lizzy, The Waterboys, The Stranglers, Newton Faulkner and Spike’s All-Star Band (Queen band members).

Whilst the above acts are very strong and represent good progress for the first year, it is an area of programme that G Live is very keen to develop further.

It is a hugely competitive genre and one where the costs of touring (multiple trucks of equipment, support bands, tour production, tour catering and high artist costs) are often prohibitive for a venue’s of G Live’s capacity.

The touring circuit has dramatically changed in recent years. The decline of the major record companies is a factor due to the drop-off in physical album sales. Downloaded musical content is cheap / free and difficult to regulate. The advent of the large 10,000+ capacity arenas and the ability of bands to ‘self-promote’ via the internet (often dramatically rising to fame and falling away equally quickly) means that they are less likely to build lengthy regional tours of midscale provincial venues.

Item 6Appendix 2


9 | P a g e

That said, G Live continues to work with all of the major promoters to build this area of programme including actively seeking ‘Academy’ scale ‘indie bands’ with a view to building further credibility as a contemporary music venue. Partnerships with organisations such as the ACM are also key to this strategy.

Rock, Pop, Folk, Jazz & World Music Seated Concerts Events included;

John Mayall, Bill Wyman, Shakin Stevens, Brubecks, The Stylistics, Elkie Brooks, Bellowhead, Suggs, Paul Carrack, Joe Brown, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Australian Pink Floyd, The Hollies, Ian Anderson, The Magnets, Alfie Boe, Ultravox, etc.

It became evident early on that Guildford audiences were responding extremely well to original artistes at G Live such as Bill Wyman, John Mayall, Bellowhead etc.

This category demonstrates the learning curve for a new venue in terms of identifying the right product for the Guildford market and the developing audience base. Quality must override quantity in terms of concert selection. For example; There are ‘tribute bands’ that may sell very well in Southend that do not necessarily sell quite as well in Guildford - at this early point in the venue’s life, at least.

G Live is therefore pursuing a strategy whereby product selection is key, but at the same time, ensuring a broad and diverse programme range. In practice this means that some weaker product will be turned away unless it really is taken as a ‘filler’ date during off-peak or shoulder periods.

This area of programme development is very much ‘work in progress’ and is dependant on the availability of suitable artists as described above (Rock & Pop – Standing). As such, the number of concerts in this category is unlikely to reach the indicative level set out in the Operator Agreement in the early years.

Sport Events included;

Local Wrestling.

Sporting events of a suitable scale to attract appropriate audience levels tend to be dependent on long lead times and often, television coverage.

G Live nearly secured the World Cup of Darts but eventually lost the event to a Dutch venue. Sky televised ‘Premier League Darts’ now only use the large-scale arenas and the championship tournament events tend to stay at long established locations.

Going forward G Live is working to attract exhibition snooker matches, professional cage fighting / wrestling, title-fight boxing and local / amateur martial arts events such as judo or Taekwondo events – long lead times permitting.

Community Events included;

Heritage Open Days, ACM Awards, Surrey Sports Awards, Hillsong Church Events, Guildford College Awards, Vision & Vow Guildford Churches, Guildford Primary Schools Music Association, St Peter’s School Concert, Italia Conti Dance School, St Catherine’s School One World Charity Concert, Surrey Schools Have Talent Show, Weydon School Prom, Creative Learning Summer Project, Autistic Society Concert, Eagle Radio Community Heroes etc.

Item 6Appendix 2


10 | P a g e

The community uses of G Live’s Main Hall have been extensive and exceeded expectations in terms of the breadth of organisations using the venue and the number of repeat visits during the first year.

The volume of events in the first year bodes well for the continued development of community use of G Live which is recognised as a vital element of the Main Hall programme.

This is in addition to the community uses of other spaces described later in this report.

Non-Performance Events Events include;

Themed large-scale Christmas Parties, Dinner Dances, Conferences, Antiques Fairs, Business to Business Networking Events, Cultural Exhibitions, Guildford Beer Festival, Rehearsals etc.

The non-performance elements of the programme have proved extremely successful with the launch of the first beer festival attracting 1500 visitors and the development of a substantial calendar of networking events and conferences.

The hospitality led dining events have also worked very well in the Main Hall space.

Item 6Appendix 2


11 | P a g e

4. Studio and Reception Room Activity (non-Main Hall activity) In addition to the ‘high-profile’ Main Hall programme the G Live team has striven to build an extensive range of activities in other spaces facilitated by partnerships with local organisations across arts, education and commercial sectors. The Studio is a particularly flexible space lending itself to all-manner of events as summarised below.

Figure 2. Studio and Reception Room Activity

Studio and Reception Room Summary The high volume of small scale Children’s & Family events mostly take place in the Studio

space and include a ‘Busy Lissy’ residency of daily workshops for mothers and babies (Baby Pilates, Baby Yoga, antenatal classes, etc). The Studio has also presented a range of friendly and accessible family shows aimed at introducing very young people to the venue (eg, Diving Belle, Angel Heart Puppetry, Ugly Duckling and The Owl & The Pussycat).

The Community events include the Creative Learning ‘taster days’, workshops, music rehearsals, careers fairs and the use of the Studio and Reception room in support of Main Hall community events.

The high volume Dance events include regular weekly Zumba, Bokwa and Swing dance classes as well as rehearsals for the Stop Gap Dance Company.

The Education use of the Studio is through a residency with Guildford’s Performance Preparation Academy and the Studio Theatre events are G Live’s own youth theatre programme.

The events’ team, primarily using the Reception Room, have made remarkable inroads into the Guildford Business Community securing events with Colgate Palmolive, EA Games, Sanofi, Allianz, Barlow Robins and many others.

Studio and Reception Room Activity

September 2011 - September 2012

Categories Code

Target

Perfs /yr Studio Reception Combined

Children's / Family Ents FAM 146 21 167

Classical CLAS 3 0 3

Comedy / Spoken Word COM 2 2 4

Community COMM 23 26 49

Dance DAN 136 2 138

Education EDUC 81 0 81

Get in / Get out / Prod / Reh GET 9 11 20

Internal Events INT 10 2 12

Music other MUSO 4 0 4

Others OTH 1 0 1

Sport SPO 0 0 0

Studio Theatre THE 17 3 20

Teen Show TEEN 3 0 3

sub total 435 67 502

Conference CON 1 52 53

Dining / Banquet DIN 6 19 25

Exhibition EXH 22 0 22

Hospitality Other HOSP 21 26 47

sub total 50 97 147

Total 156 485 164 649

Item 6Appendix 2


12 | P a g e

They have also hosted a range of Exhibitions (Surrey Sculpture Society, Antiques Fairs), networking events, parties and weddings.

Item 6Appendix 2


13 | P a g e

5. The Operator Agreement and Key Performance Indicators The following table summarises G Live activity against the indicative targets set in the Operator Agreement for the first year. The Main Hall Live Programme (1) activity falls short of the target of 250 events per year by 70 (due to the reasons given above in relation to building the programme, building audiences, product availability and the selection of shows of the desired quality in the first year), but Total Main Hall Event Activity (4) exceeds the target of 265 events for the year by 23 when including Main Hall Community Events (2) and Main Hall Non-Performance Events (3).

Operator Agreement KPI’s KPI Description KPI Actual Variance Notes

1 Main Hall Live Programme

250 (Classical to Sport)

180 (70) Excludes get ins, rehearsals and non -performance events such as the beer festival, antiques fairs, conferences etc

2 Main Hall Community Events

15 60 +45

3 Main Hall Non-Performance Events

0 48 +48

4 Total Main Hall Event Activity

265 288 +23 Includes Main Hall shows, events, rehearsals, get-ins and non-performance events

5 Main Hall Attendance (167,257 yr 4)

129,005 yr 1

130,574 +1,569

6 Non-Main Hall Hospitality Events (156/20%)

125 147 +22 Studio and Reception Rooms only. Excludes Seminar Rooms and Foyer events.

7 Other Hospitality Events

0 54 +54 Ancillary spaces excluding Studio and Reception Rooms

8 Education Projects (at least 1x for 100)

100 218 +118 Alice in Wonderland, Revolting Rhymes, Radio Live, Jubilant June. Excludes resident Young Producers

9 Main Hall Dark Days 7 / month < 80 per year

114 (34) Building programme density. Quality over quantity as reported via the MSRM and above

Figure 3. Operator Agreement KPI’s The target for Main Hall Attendance (5) is 167,257 by Year 4 of the contract. The Year 1 target (when applying the 20% tolerance in the Operator Agreement) is 129,005. Attendance in the first year exceeds this target by 1,569. Targets for Non-Main Hall Hospitality Events (6) and Education Projects (8) have also been significantly exceeded. The number of Main Hall Dark Days (9) is higher than the target due to very limited live-product availability in the shoulder / off peaks months of January, July and August. This is a trend that is expected to continue and is very much in line with similar peer group venues with heavy ‘one-nighter’ led programmes – many of which actually go completely dark throughout August. Venues with strong summer product tend to be either theatres with long running theatrical/musical productions, or seaside town/tourist destination venues with ‘summer seasons’.

Item 6Appendix 2


14 | P a g e

6. Financial Performance Please refer to the Annual Financial Summary at Annexe 4 for the details of the monthly and total annual financial performance at G Live. It should be noted that HQT’s statutory accounts are produced for the financial year period of April-March each year. The summary produced for this report is not audited and may therefore be subject to change. Audited accounts will be available to GBC through the normal channels in due course. As the ‘contract year’ for G Live has been set to include the period of 1st of October to 30th September each year there are anomalies within this first year’s report. The reason for this is the inclusion of activity within the September 2011 period which, in reality, related to a very limited number of pre-opening events and has resulted in a one-off 12 ½ month summary this year. The overall net operating loss of £89,030 also includes provision for £60,000 of additional capital investment made by HQT at G Live in the first year. This capital investment was for items such as;

Theatre rigging equipment and masking/drapes

Audio visual equipment

Marketing display equipment

Additional furniture

Door retaining magnet system (jointly funded with GBC) It was also in addition to pre-opening project related capital purchases made by HQT as part of the fit-out of the venue and its hospitality infrastructure. The costs of which are not included within this period or report. The accounts for the first year of operation are in line with HQT’s / Qdos’ business plan for the G Live. The financial picture at the end of the year reflects the opportunity costs of positive change which often occur when a new management contract begins. HQT / Qdos is confident that, in line with its business plan, the accounts of years two and three will move into profit. The first year of operation of G Live has confirmed HQT’s / Qdos’ positive expectations.

Item 6Appendix 2


15 | P a g e

7. Customer Satisfaction Information For more information please refer to the Marketing Summary Annual Report at Annexe 1. Customer satisfaction at G Live has been measured over the last year through a comprehensive programme which included:

Two formal mystery shopper visits conducted in December 2011 and March 2012.

Two informal mystery shopper visits conducted in December and July.

Three pieces of customer research conducted in association with the University of Surrey’s Department of International Event Management in July/August.

An International Orchestral Concert Series (IOCS) customer survey conducted in October 2011.

Customer feedback forms (available from all Front of House areas)

A verbal comments log kept at the Ticket Desk and Stage Door

An internal log of compliments and complaints

All of the above feeds into the multi-departmental Service Improvement Group which meets monthly. Any actions resulting from this are, in turn, escalated to the Senior Management Team for monitoring, review and implementation of any changes required to policy.

Customer Satisfaction Summary Mystery Shopper visits

The Mystery Shopper feedback programme is a rigorous and comprehensive programme which analyses, on a 360 point plan, the level to which G Live is meeting customer expectation. It is conducted on behalf of G Live by Learn Purple. The target score is 95%. G Live achieved 89% for December 2011, just three months after opening, and this improved to 92% in March 2012.

Research programme Three pieces of quantitative customer research have been commissioned by G Live in partnership with the University of Surrey’s Department of International Event Management. The research objectives were to look at customer satisfaction with event/performances, staff service, facilities, ease of booking, quality of catering and hospitality. The survey was emailed to 1069 customers, across Family, Comedy, Live music, Classical music, Light entertainment and Musical performances. A total of 350 responses were received in total across all three surveys. 98.3% agreed they would return to the venue and 90% agreed that they would recommend the venue to others.

Item 6Appendix 2


16 | P a g e

8. Health & Safety at Work G Live’s Director has tabled monthly Buildings and Health & Safety Reports to the Service Review Meetings. The Buildings and Health & Safety Annual Report is attached at Annexe 3.

Health & Safety Summary Over the past 12 months G Live has worked hard to successfully create a Health and Safety culture throughout all departments within the building. G Live has also extended this policy to all those who visit the building, whether a visiting company, contractor or a member of the public. This has helped to ensure that G Live is a safe environment to work and visit. In order to further confirm G Live’s commitment to providing a safe environment, G Live and HQT have engaged 1st Option as Health and Safety Consultants. Through this partnership G Live is demonstrating that the venue will continue to advance the Health and Safety culture, with the aim of continuing to keep all staff and visitors safe now and in the long term. In order to achieve and maintain standards G Live has a structure of monthly health and safety meetings with departmental representatives from Technical, Administration, Front of House, Creative Learning, Marketing, Hospitality and Catering. These monthly meetings are then discussed at Senior Management level, where the minutes of the working group are looked at to ensure compliance with the G Live Health and Safety policy, as well as raising any significant or strategic health and safety matters. The monthly Health and Safety meeting also feeds into a quarterly Health & Safety report to HQT Head Office and 1st Option. Any matters arising are fed back to G Live, with 1st Option providing support as required.

Item 6Appendix 2

g live annual report 2011 / 2012 - borough of guildford · 2012-11-21 · g live annual report...

Documents