Tramlines is a 50,000 capacity metropolitan festival in Sheffield which METHOD have been delivering since 2019. Every year since then we have been blessed with fine weather during our time on site, so this year we were braced for a wet edition - and this year that is exactly what we got. And then some...

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Additional ground protection was laid during the build when the forecast turned against us, and it took a concerted team effort to get the site ready for doors on the Friday. The METHOD team and our entire family of suppliers pulled together to work through the persistent rain in order to complete the build on schedule, whilst minimising ground damage.

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Heavy rain during the first day of the event did nothing to dampen the spirit of Tramlines' local audience, and more ground protection was laid across site on the Saturday morning in preparation for day two. Come Sunday morning, some areas on site had been severely affected by the combination of persistent rain and heavy footfall, but the forecast was showing a further 3-5mm of rain due in the afternoon and a multi-agency decision was made to proceed with the final day of the event. The show must go on.

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What resulted was a Herculean effort, with everyone on site contributing to getting ready for doors. We had council employees delivering straw and wood chip on rotation, security working en-mass to distribute ground protection, and the site crew working tirelessly from before sunrise to implement every possible measure at our disposal. You could walk the site on Sunday morning in the lead up to doors opening and every single person, whether they were a security supervisor or food trader cashier, were rolling their sleeves up and mucking in to make the event possible. This was the strongest sense of camaraderie and pride about an event we have ever experienced.

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The doors opened, the audience arrived (all 40,000 of them!), and then 4mm of forecast rain turned into 31mm. It was a relentless downpour lasting several hours, but the bands performed, the audience partied, and memories were made. It is a testament to the dedication of our team and it was an inspiring example of Sheffield spirit that the event went ahead despite the odds.

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In this industry, there’s no greater test than when the elements are conspiring against you, and at METHOD, we could not be more proud of our team.