Populous enters strategic partnership with OnePlan | Stadia Magazine

Populous has announced that it has made a strategic investment in OnePlan, an innovative event site and venue planning software company.

OnePlan’s GIS mapping collaboration platform is already used by more than 50,000 events in 110 countries, delivering up to 85% time-savings for its customers. The platform simplifies the planning of live events and venues through easy-to-use, collaborative mapping tools.

Its award-winning digital twin software, VenueTwin, enables teams to visualise, plan operations, and sell spaces in a virtual version of any venue including stadia, arenas, conference centres and smart cities. The company’s web platform accommodates the event planning of venues of any size, indoors and outdoors, seamlessly integrating existing architectural CAD and floor plan files.

The partnership with OnePlan will enable Populous to further enhance its live event services. It will also integrate the collaborative VenueTwin platform with its own digital offerings to provide a unique level of planning and visualisation for clients, throughout the design phase and the entire lifecycle of projects.

“This investment opens an exciting new chapter for OnePlan, building on the fast growth we’ve experienced to date,” said Paul Foster, founder and CEO of OnePlan. “The unrivalled knowledge and specialisms of the team at Populous will deepen the positive impact our software provides. We’re excited by the new opportunities this partnership opens, and the many benefits it creates for events and venues across the world.”

“This strategic investment is part of our commitment to focus on digital innovation across our business,” commented Earl Santee, CEO and chair of Populous. “OnePlan is a company we’ve admired for a long time. Alongside our own design and operational expertise our strategic investment with them will enhance our delivery capabilities for major events worldwide.”

“The increasing role that virtual environments play in the collaborative design process, and the opportunities they provide in connecting venues and events to their audiences before and after opening, is key to our design approach and ongoing relationship with our clients,” added Nick Reynolds, chief global strategy officer at Populous. “OnePlan has established itself as the leading collaborative platform in 2D and 3D event planning and they will work in tandem with our internal digital teams to enhance the digital twin services we can offer our clients.”