Cheltenham Racecourse is the Home of Jump Racing & The famous Cheltenham Festival™. As well as providing the venue for the exceptional jump racing, Cheltenham Racecourse also acts as a venue for conferences, exhibitions and private parties with the ability to accommodate up to 2,500.

The 2022 Festival™ at Cheltenham Racecourse will once again be welcoming spectators after the pandemic restrictions in 2021. The Cheltenham Racecourse team have been working hard to ensure not only a thrilling racing event at the 2022 Festival™, but also a Covid safe venue for the public to enjoy. With a capacity of  72,000 people and a 4 day festival to enjoy, ensuring safety whilst the UK is still in a pandemic has been a real concern for the operations team. 

Gemma Steve joined the Cheltenham team as Regional Buildings and Facilities Manager in November 2021. Gemma has a wealth of experience having worked with the jockey club for over 10 years as Regional Head of Operations at Newmarket Racecourse.  One of the key priorities for Gemma as she prepared for the 2022 Festival™ was to ensure appropriate Covid protocols were put in place. 

“Whilst much of our visitor interaction is outdoors and thus well ventilated, some of our facilities in particular washrooms have poorer ventilation and thus expose a greater risk to our guests which was a concern to us.

We were thrilled to meet CorrMed, a local business with fantastic international experience in infection control. They introduced us to a product called AIRsteril – an air purification unit which is designed to run continuously in a room killing virus and bacteria in the air 24/7, even in the largest of rooms.”

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The jockey club have joined a number of local businesses, schools and hospitals in choosing the AIRsteril air purification to keep their facilities and thus occupants safe from virus and bacteria. The units will not only ensure purified air, but also provide odour control for the washrooms which is always a particular challenge when there are so many visitors. 

The AIRsteril units are now deployed in a number of priority washrooms at Cheltenham racecourse in advance of the Festival™ and a mobile AIRsteril unit has also been deployed for use in targeted areas of concern. Whether you are looking to improve air quality, reduce illnesses and the risk of viruses and germs, or eliminate odours, installing an AIRsteril is one of the most efficient ways to do it.