Finsbury Park Goes Live: Festival Republic Brings Mains Power to UK Festivals
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What is the groundbreaking mains‑power project at Finsbury Park?
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Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Event Industry News Podcast with me, James Dixon, wishing you all a very good morning, afternoon, or evening, whenever or wherever you tune into today's podcast from. Now, back in March, Festival of Republic broke ground on a project that will see Maine's power installed in London's Finsbury Park. The project, the first of its kind in the UK, is part of a wider initiative by the organizer to reduce its relationship. reliance on temporary generators and encourage the use of renewable energy sources within the outdoor music industry. To tell us more about the project, we're delighted to welcome to the podcast the MD of Festival of Republic, Melvin Ben. Melvin, a very warm welcome to the podcast and good morning to you.
James, thank you. Good morning to you, or indeed good evening, good afternoon, whichever it one it it happens to be, really.
A absolutely. I was on the podcast bright and early this morning at eight AM on a Monday because my first guest was uh joining me from Australia. And the last guest of the recording schedule today will be at four PM for me because uh it will be first thing in the morning for them in New York. So it's uh it's a really sort of real sort of international flavour to the podcast recordings today. Um but I guess you're you're join joining us from your base in the UK, are you?
Yeah, I'm in London. Um in the office in London. Yeah, very much uh i y you know, Farringdon is the base now. So yeah, very happy with that.
Fabulous. And um as I said in the introduction there, this was widely reported across the sort of the event industry news um sort of media channels that uh you'd broken ground on this really sort of historic and uh pardon the pardon groundbreaking project in Finsbury Park. Um The the the the mains power connection is gonna be the first of its kind. Um I I'd love to sort of know maybe from a timeline point of view, when did discussions start about it and h how long did it actually take to get to that point in March March when you when you broke ground?
In truth, it's taken about four years, James. Um, you know, a little longer than um it should have done, perhaps. And um th th some of that is um y y y y y you know, slowness of brus y you know, sort of bureaucracy and things like that. But uh some of it was my own team being diverted and y you know, sort of having more important things and more urgent things to deal with and things like that.
When did discussions start and how long did it take to break ground?
And Um so so it's taken longer than it should have. Um I think it realistically it could probably be done comfortably in a couple of years. Um but again, it's that thing of it's the first one in the UK that we've done, it's taken a little longer than it should. Everyone from here will will be a little a a little quicker and a little smoother because we will have we'll have learned from you know from the installation of the first one.
No, a absolutely. And and let's not sort of underestimate the significance of both the the impact on the wider industry, but also just the the sheer undertaking that it must be to even entertain a a project project like this and and the stakeholders inv involved. I mean, this is uh as reported a collaboration with uh Harangay Council, I believe, and um there must be other stakeholders involved in those discussions. to get it to the point in March as well.
Well obviously the you know Harringay Council, you know, crucial to it 'cause they own the park and you you know, you have to have permission to put something into the park. There, we, you know, the the actual substation receipt receiver of the power as such will be um dug underground. So it won't be visible, it won't be a uh something that's um you know noticeable to the park users.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the groundbreaking mains‑power project at Finsbury Park?
0:00–2:41
2
When did discussions start and how long did it take to break ground?
2:41–5:30
3
Which stakeholders (Haringey Council, National Grid, etc.) were involved and why?
5:30–9:08
4
How much carbon reduction and sustainability benefit does the project deliver?
9:08–12:07
5
What operational efficiencies are gained by replacing generators?
12:07–15:51
6
How will the project’s timeline progress toward the first June concerts?
15:51–19:36
7
Will the power supplied be sourced from renewable energy?
19:36–23:49
8
What legacy does this UK‑first initiative create for future festivals (Reading 2027, etc.)?
23:49–28:05
Speakers
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