Years of experience: 25 +
From the high street to the boardroom, Roy is renowned within the industry for his ability to maximise the venue opportunity through commercially viable, guest focused experiences.
His background was an operator, working in a number of hospitality roles. He was instrumental in bringing the Levy Restaurants brand to the UK and spent five years on the board of the business as Director of Strategy & Innovation. Following two decades on the high street and in the boardroom, Roy Westwood founded Forward Associates in 2015.
Since founding Forward Associates, his vision has shaped the guest experience at some of the world’s best stadia and arenas. From era-defining, new builds at Tottenham Hotspur and Everton FC, to reimagining the next generation of arenas in Manchester, Stockholm and Phoenix, his work is hallmarked by a desire to do things properly.
Roy’s experience and unique approach allows Forward Associates to be a pioneering light in the industry. Their method considers the business case first. With strategy at the heart of the business, the company is renowned for considering the experience, the customer journey, the operational challenges and how human psychology affects fan behaviour among a myriad of other things. Ignoring the usual mantra of build it and they will come, Forward Associates have a simple mission – to build it right first time.
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“Every venue is unique but our philosophy remains consistent. The business model comes first and defines the design of the venue, not the other way round. After all, the aim is to design a building that operates flawlessly and is able to fully commercialise the guest experience. We do not believe this should ever be consigned to an afterthought.”
Career Highlights
Everton FC
Forward Associates were appointed to work on the half-billion-pound new stadium for Everton FC at the start of 2021. Together, we created a collection of exceptional fan experiences at its new home on Liverpool’s waterfront and we continue to this day to support the Club on a broader strategic footing across a number of issues.
Our remit was not only to create compelling fan experiences, but to understand how these could come together as one holistic proposition. This has included designing and delivering a state-of-the-art sales showroom within The Liver Building as part of our work on the sales and ticketing strategy.
Tottenham Hotspur FC
The strategic direction and design of all general admission and hospitality areas. Working closely with F3 Base and Populous, from initial brief to completion, our premium hospitality scope covered more than 24,000 sqm of restaurants, bars, communal and individual suites, as well as the East and West Atriums.
O2 Arena
A masterplan for The O2 that has led to a decade-long relationship and has formed the foundation for the Arena guest experience. To capture the excitement on stage, we created views into the bowl, used technology to build anticipation and reimagined hole-in-the-wall format kiosks into experiential, modern outlets.
