Each year, the City of Sydney transforms the harbour and parts of the CBD into a New Year’s Eve celebration of style, spectacle and culture. Attracting more than one million spectators and reaching a global audience of 425 million, the 2024 festivities featured more than 100 artists and one of the world’s largest, most technologically advanced displays of fireworks, lighting and projections.
With over a decade of experience supporting this major event, Coates once again partnered with the City of Sydney and more than 30 customers to provide an end-to-end equipment solution for New Year’s Eve 2024. Jarrad Whitby, National Manager - Traffic & Events at Coates, says Coates played a pivotal role in the success of the event.
“Our customer-focused, collaborative approach ensured everything ran smoothly across multiple sites and stakeholders. The team’s experience and expertise in delivering high-quality equipment and temporary infrastructure were vital in managing tight timelines and complex logistics, ensuring public safety, comfort and convenience.
“The complexity of the event, diversity of customers and magnitude of the equipment required make Coates an obvious choice to support this event. Supporting the event year-on-year also gives customers confidence that we can hit the ground running, knowing what to expect,” Jarrad says.
Coates has over a decade of experience supporting City of Sydney's New Years Eve celebration
The Coates team started planning for the event in August, working with customers including Transport for NSW; Sydney Trains; Metro Trains; Place Management NSW; Opera Bar; Mosman Council; Balmain Council; Inner West Council; North Sydney Council; Woollahra Council; Cedar Mill Events; and telecommunications providers Visionstream, Optus and Telstra.
On the ground, the event required 13 days of meticulous planning, teamwork and round-the-clock dedication to support all customers. “Our Sydney branch teams did a great job adapting and working across the needs of multiple customers, while a central contact for customers helped us to maintain a high level of service,” says Rhys Jones, Major Projects Manager - Events at Coates.
Coates supplied an extensive amount of equipment, including:
6,000m of MASH TL2 plastic Armorzone traffic barriers containing 10% recycled material
6,000m+ of temporary fencing
7,500m+ of crowd control barriers
150+ variable message boards (VMS), plus personnel to manage the messaging on these boards
85+ lighting towers (including 18 solar towers)
550+ portable toilets and 85+ accessible units
10+ 16-pan and standard toilet blocks, pump trucks and toilet attendants
Waste management for all portable toilets on New Year’s Day, prior to removal from site
Mobile plant including forklifts, telehandlers and elevated work platforms
Power generation, distribution and HVAC equipment
600+ portable buildings
The event required 13 days of meticulous planning, teamwork and round-the-clock dedication to support all customers
While many businesses shut down over the Christmas and New Year period, Coates ramped up to support the delivery of this major event safely and efficiently. “We also faced the challenge of delivering and installing the temporary event infrastructure in high-traffic public areas, including parks, train stations and major arterial roads, during one of the busiest holiday periods of the year,” says Rhys.
The timeframe for bump-in and bump-out was also extremely tight, adding pressure to the event workforce.
“Planning and scheduling were really important, as there was only a small window for Coates to deliver and install all of our equipment. With around 940 transport movements to move equipment to and from site, it was extremely challenging,” says Rhys. “These challenges applied equally after the event, with just three days for all equipment to be removed.”
To support the final stages of bump-in and bump-out, Coates shifted to 24/7 operations from December 30 to January 2. “This enabled us to deliver and dismantle a vast amount of equipment in just four days,” says Rhys. “By 1am on New Year’s Day, bump-out was well underway.”
Coates also had four tankers working overnight on New Year's Eve, servicing the toilets on various sites. “Few others have the capacity to supply and install this amount of equipment and provide this breadth of transport, servicing and other support within these timeframes,” says Jarrad.
While many businesses shut down over Christmas and New Year, Coates ramped up to support the delivery of this major event
Hosting the Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations is a team effort involving local councils, state government, community and private organisations. Meeting the equipment needs of these and other stakeholders requires an equally collaborative approach among Coates’ branch teams, project managers, event lead and support staff – including skilled installation teams, delivery crews, yard staff, contractors and temporary labour hire – all working tirelessly behind the scenes.
“This collective effort demonstrates Coates’ commitment to excellence, safety and customer focus, managing complex operations across multiple days, sites and stakeholders,” says Jarrad. “With Australia’s largest fleet, national coverage and local support, Coates has the capability and proven experience to support major events just like this, Australia-wide.”
Need help delivering a major event? Contact Coates today for a tailored solution
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