Williams Scotsman

Scope Of Work

The 1st Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama was held in Washington, DC on January, 2009. It was estimated that a record-breaking 1.8 million people attended this event and its cost was approximately $75 million, higher than any other prior inauguration. Leading up to this momentous occasion, the nation’s capital was busy hosting a week of festivities that included the Presidential Swearing-in Ceremony, the Inaugural Address, the Inaugural Parade and numerous inaugural concerts, balls and galas honoring the new President of the United States. For this particular inauguration, the Presidential Inaugural Committee increased its outreach to ordinary citizens and encouraged them to participate. The entire length of the National Mall would be utilized as the public viewing area for the swearing-in ceremony, breaking with the tradition of past inaugurations.

With such a huge turnout, there were many security and transportation challenges throughout DC…and space challenges, too. Secure temporary storage space is critical to those managing an event of this magnitude. And if you need additional and reliable temporary space – and they certainly did - you need WillScot.

East, west, north and south of the mall and all around the town, you could spot our familiar green steel storage containers and cream and green modular office buildings. Storage containers housed the extra materials needed for parades, concerts, traffic and crowd control. Modular offices served as command centers for the numerous security and event personnel.

Our history of providing quality products when and where they are needed was equal to the task of ensuring another chapter in our country’s history was accomplished smoothly and successfully.