Open Air Business April 2017

EVENTS
Field to
Festival
Make monetising your spare field a reality with these tips
from Katie Tann, founder of Field Lover - an online portal
matching field owners with ‘field seekers’
people. If you are hiring in external services,
such as a marquee company, fireworks
display team, temporary power provider
or catering company, then each individual
supplier should undertake their own risk
assessment for their activity and provide the
event organiser with a copy or a certificate
of compliance with the relevant safety
regulations.
WE LIVE IN A ‘sharing economy’ world
with an increasing number of online
marketplaces at our disposal for renting out
our surplus assets. The sharing economy
is a real trend and one that is growing,
creating new markets out of things that we
wouldn’t have previously considered to be
monetisable.
Field Lover aims to fill a gap in the microland
rental market assisting landowners to
advertise and rent their land to field seekers,
who are primarily looking for short-term
land rental for a variety of activities. From
a simple day rental for the local church fête
or amateur dramatics performance, to a
sporting event such as Tough Mudder, popup
open air cinema or local music festival
- the list is ever growing. Outdoor events are
fast gaining popularity, can be profitable
and provide a valuable contribution to the
community and local area.
As the landowner, you choose whether
you rent your land to a third party who
organises an event or whether you organise
and run an event yourself. When hiring
your land to a third party you have a duty
of care to those assisting you and to people
attending the event to ensure the site
is risk assessed, hazards clearly marked
and adequate signage is in place. Any
activities related to the event itself are the
responsibility of the event organiser, who
has ultimate responsibility to carry out a
more detailed risk assessment.
It is good practice, regardless of your
event size, to undertake a risk assessment
to identify the risks versus actions required
for the prevention of accidents during
your event. Once your event is assessed
you can assign actions to the relevant
WHERE TO START
First and foremost it is worth spending time
carrying out some sound market research.
Ask yourself questions such as, “What type
of event?” and “Is it best suited to my site?”
Consider your land from an outdoor event
viewpoint – think about:
› gradient
› boundaries (walls, fences or hedges)
› natural hazards (rocks, lakes, rivers or
streams)
› do any of the features of the land hinder
the event requirements?
› is the site within easy access from a main
road?
› is there sufficient space for traffic and
suppliers to navigate the site and park?
› how does the land cope after rainfall; will
parking areas need stabilising and are
you able to provide assistance if cars get
stuck?
52 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM