Social Enterprise Corps Security Renews Partnership With Iconic Royal Opera House
London’s Royal Opera House, one of the world’s leading arts organisations, has re-appointed Corps Security to deliver a full spectrum of security services at its iconic Covent Garden site. The renewed partnership will see Corps continue to develop the security offering on site, introducing new roles and innovative, state of the art training technologies.
Established as the Covent Garden Opera Company in 1946, the Royal Opera House brings together world-class performers and trailblazing creative teams to share unforgettable performances with audiences near and far. Today, with HRH The Prince of Wales as its patron, the site requires expert security services year-round, while presenting approximately 96 performances per season.
Full Spectrum Of Security Services
Corps will provide a broad range of security service lines at the Royal Opera House. An estate of dedicated full-time and support operatives – comprising a head of security, security operations manager, front of house personnel, control room staff, duty shift managers, patrolling and fire officers, and loading bay staff – will be on site.
Corps personnel will continue to be part of the journey for all visitors to the Royal Opera House. They will meet and greet artists and contractors at the stage door and perform vital operations for the Royal Opera House. Part of this involves working alongside the in-house visitor experience teams to provide a seamless, joined up customer service offer for staff, artists, and members of the public.
A Balance Of Culture And Security
The Royal Opera House is open to the public year-round, and, as such, the challenge has always been to both protect visitors using bar and restaurant facilities, and to ensure the security of all auditoria and performance spaces. The goal of this partnership is to train personnel to deliver sector-specific security, ensuring that the Royal Opera House can continue to deliver the outstanding experiences it is renowned for.
The renewed relationship, which begins on 1st September, is set to run for an initial three-year term with the potential for extensions to reach a combined seven-year partnership.
Gabriela Gandolfini, Head of Visitor Services and Site Operations at the Royal Opera House, comments: “We are delighted that Corps, our current security services partner, has successfully retained the contract for security and stage door services following a rigorous tender process. We are looking forward to continuing to work with Corps over the coming years.”
Innovative Security
Corps has already begun a programme to introduce its award-winning virtual reality (VR) training capabilities to the Royal Opera House. This will enable operatives to receive training in immersive scenarios within familiar environments that are based on site-specific standards of operation, policies, and procedures. VR training has been shown to increase information retention by up to 75% while reducing associated training costs by as much as 64%.
With Protect Duty legislation currently under review, venues will be required to hold sole responsibility for ensuring the safety of their guests on site. With little government guidance, it is essential for public venues to have expertly prepared personnel on site who understand the audience they serve.
Paul Lotter, managing director at Corps Security commented: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our relationship with the Royal Opera House. As we introduce our innovative security capabilities, including VR and behaviour detection training, to this iconic venue we look forward to continuing to build on our already special relationship.”
All images credit: ROH.
