I have six hours to turn the Hydro from netball court into concert venue
· Yahoo Sports
For most people connected with the Commonwealth Games, the final gold medals being presented signify the competition winding down.
However for Patrick McIntyre and his team it kicks-off a frantic scramble - as he has six hours to switch the OVO Hydro from a netball court back into a concert venue for Simple Minds perform on Sunday night.
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The compressed nature of the Games has resulted in the Hydro hosting both opening and closing ceremonies, as well as all the netball fixtures.
That means the netball programme will conclude about 15:00, and the closing ceremony will start just six hours later.
"The deadline is basically the show starting," says Patrick, wryly.
"The city council will be there in advance with building control to inspect the building but the ultimate deadline for everything will be when people are walking in with a pint in their hand and sitting down.
"We only have six hours really to do it, so it is quite a quick turnaround."
The past few days have seen background work take place, but the main tasks facing Patrick and a team of about 120 people - such as removing the netball court and practice court - obviously cannot be done until the sport has finished.
They will also have to rip out seating, anti-doping rooms and broadcast rigs while reinstalling power, water and toilets to parts of the building.
Patrick and his team had to quickly disassemble the opening ceremony set-up and turn it into a netball court [Getty Images]Patrick, the Glasgow 2026 overlay lead at events company Trivandi, is not fazed by his task though, because he has already tackled the process in reverse.
Following the 23 July opening ceremony with KT Tunstall, Calum Beattie and a flying teacake, his team had to get the Hydro ready as a sports venue, with the first netball match getting underway on the following Saturday.
"Going from the opening ceremony to the netball was by far the most complex of the transitions, due to the sheer scale of the video wall being used.
"We needed everything done by 10:00 the next day to get the courts ready. A major advantage for Glasgow is having these world-class venues that can be used, but no matter what venue you have there is a level of additional requirements needed for the Games, like having media and anti-doping facilities in place."
Patrick began planning how to handle the Games last summer when Trivandi were hired as the event delivery partner for the event, which Glasgow took on at short notice after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out over cost concerns.
As well as the Hydro, he has also overseen the transformation for the other three venues at the Games, including the Glasgow Warriors' home of Scotstoun being turned from a rugby pitch into an athletics venue.
"The timelines for Scotstoun were impressive, because we got it done in four weeks rather than the eight to 10 weeks that we usually would have," says Patrick.
"Doing it all in a condensed time frame has been a considerable challenge, and being able to deliver it on time is a tremendous achievement."
The OVO Hydro has hosted netball matches since the second day of the Games [Getty Images]The Games has also marked a personal milestone for Patrick, who is from Dumbarton and now lives on Glasgow's southside.
The 33-year-old was fresh out of university when he worked at the 2014 Games, having studied civil engineering at the University of Glasgow.
He enjoyed the Games experience so much that he decided he was keen to work for events companies as a career, and has since worked on events like the World's Expo in Osaka last year and the previous Games in Birmingham in 2022.
"It's full circle coming back to Glasgow, and it's felt quite special working on it," he says. "I was in Osaka for several months for the expo, and getting to sleep again in my own bed has been nice."
The prospect of the netball overrunning is not giving him sleepless nights, either, as he is confident the transformation will go to plan. He is even looking forward to it all, despite the pressure involved.
Patrick says: "We do have contingency plans ready if we need to adjust on the ground, but this has been meticulously planned out.
"Everyone knows their role and we will be ready to descend as soon as the final whistle goes in the netball. We will take it to the wire but that's part of the fun.
"It's like second-degree fun because when you are in the midst of it, it doesn't feel fun, it's just challenging. But when you watch what you have delivered it does feel really good."