As a short-term business Consultant, I have been hired by Alton Towers PLC to find out information about the magical theme park, and produce a report. The report will include details about Alton Tower’s objectives, structure, organisation, and channels within the business, culture, communication, quality assurance and control system. In order for me to complete the report I will need to investigate the running of Alton Towers carefully. Historical background
Alton Towers has a large and interesting background history, which can be dated all the way back to the 8th Century when the towers was a fortress and was held by Ceolred, the king of Mercia. The castle remained upon this ownership up until 1412 when the Earls of Shrewsbury taken over the Tower through a marriage between Lady Ankarat de Verdun and Sir John Talbot. The second part of the journey towards the creation of the theme park was in 1753. It was in this year that Charles Talbot, the 15th Earl, was born.
It was Charles that taken it upon himself to tame the gardens surrounding the castle. He assisted the help of hundreds of men, which included artisans, mechanics and laborers. It was said that “He made the desert smile”. Charles Talbot taken great care into making sure that the gardens were to be unique and original. Only two principle garden architects, Thomas Allason (1790-1852) and Robert Abraham’s (1774-1850), were consulted about the detail to ensure the gardens were original and not imitated in any way to other gardens.
The reasons that the gardens are still stunning and so beautiful even today are due to the financial resources from Charles Talbot along with his eye for beauty and architectural talent invested into the gardens. It was during this development that the Chinese Temple and the Conservatories were built which remains till this day, and look as elegant as ever. The next step along the way is the 19th century. It was in 1860 that the gardens were opened to the public for the first time. It was thirty years later that there were lots of gardens fetes included fireworks and sideshows where and an amazing 30,000 people was a usual amount of visitors.
It was towards the end of the 19th century that the garden suffered a large loss and this ended in the Shrewsbury’s selling the gardens and house. They were bought buy a consortium of local businessmen in 1924. During the same year the gardens were restored back to their full glory and they form Alton Towers Ltd. Throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s the gardens were once again opened and attracting crowds of people. The house continued to attract crowds up until 1939 when an awful event happened, World War was declared and the house is turned into an officer cadet training camp.
The house remained part of the war office until 1951 when it was handed back to the Alton Towers Company. By 1952 the house is reopened. After the house being neglected for a while it was in ruins. The Banqueting Halls were opened allowing tearooms to be run inside the once splendid Halls, also there was a traveling fun fair placed in the gardens to entertain the visitors. It was following the fun fairs success that in 1970 rides were built and installed in the grounds. Many of which still stand at Alton Towers to this day.
In 1980 Alton Towers had a major development. A very popular attraction was opened called the Corkscrew, which changed Alton Towers forever. It was the first double looping rollercoaster in the UK. This ride is still as popular today as it was back then. The 1980’s also saw a string of large developments. It saw the creation of major rides still existing including the Log Flume, Pirate Ship, Black Hole, Enterprise, Congo River Rapids, Vintage Car Rides, Tea Cups, Sky Ride and Monorail. The park was divided up into different areas.
The 1990’s saw even more changes for Alton Towers. The first was in 1990 when the Tussauds Group taken over Alton Towers Ltd and invested into improving into the future of the park. The 1990’s offered lots more new developments. Massive rides such as the Runaway Mine Train, Haunted House, Energizer and Ripsaw. Two very popular rides were invested in and developed which as the Nemesis (1994) and Oblivious (1998). Alton Towers was doing so well that in March of 1996 the first ever Alton Towers Hotel was opened.
As time moved on into the 21st Century Alton Towers are now market leaders and want to continue making Alton Towers a magical place. In March of 2000 a ride is opened which pays tribute to the parks heritage called Hex: the legend of the towers. In 2001 ad 2002 there are even more developments, which includes an addition to the white knuckle collection, this was called Submission- and Air was made which is a roller costar in the position that your flying. Now for the future, in 2003 there are new plans in development for a new Hotel.
This hotel will include a water park and state-of-the-art Conference Centre. Alton Towers is owned by Charter House Banking investment Group that belongs to The Tussauds Group. The Tussauds group is a part of Pearson PLC. The company is well known for there entertaining attractions. These attractions include Madame Tussauds, Tussauds Planetarium, Warwick Castle, British Airways London Eye, Chessington World Of Adventures, Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and the Alton Towers Hotel. They haven’t only got attractions in England; they also have attractions in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, and New York.
They were originally founded over 200 years ago when they opened Tussauds in London. It was back in 1991 that The Tussauds Group came into possession of Alton Towers. 1991 was dedicated to renovating the theme park where they refurnished the old existing rides and planning out Alton Towers future. Careful thought and planning was carried out when the Tussauds Group paid i?? 12 million on two new rides, Nemesis and Toyland. The benefits and constraints of Alton Towers being a PLC There are two kinds of limited companies Public Limited Companies (PLC) and Private limited companies (LTD).
Public limited companies are usually owned by the state. They can raise capital more easily as you can buy and sell their shares on the stock exchange to members of the public. The company’s accounts and other personal information are open to the public. Private Limited Companies do not sell their shares to members of the public, the controllers can choose who has shares. The accounts and other personal information are kept private and the public and competitors don’t have access to them.
