SICEEP to ‘blow away’ MCEC

 THE NSW Tourism Minister has declared the redeveloped Sydney Convention + Exhibition Centre (SCEC) will not just rival that of Victoria’s prime conference venue, but “blow Melbourne out of the water” when it opens by 2017. Speaking with BEN, George Souris - who is also the Minister for Major Events - referred to the size of the project as “humongous”, enabling Sydney to offer greater competition to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. “It’s going to be a long year, but we are building something twice the size of what we were initially planning,” Souris said. Facilities include what’s billed as Australia’s largest exhibition space, at 40,000sqm, and the country’s biggest convention hall capacity for 10,000 people over four different spaces. While the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition & Entertainment Precinct’s design is still to be finalised, the Minister confirmed the project was likely to result in events being turned away during the rebuild stage. Questioned if the substitute Glebe Island facility - along with other alternative venues across the city - would result in conferences being hosted intrastate, Souris said “I’d say so.” “We’re hoping to make sure we cover the bases, but there will be events that will say ‘We’ll be back in a years time”. He said the SICEEP would take the better part of two years to construct, with the existing SCEC closing from Dec next year. Classed for all intents and purposes as a ‘pull down, start again’ project, Souris believes the SICEEP design will integrate some of the existing halls of the SCEC during its redevelopment.Within the project is a brand new build hotel for Sydney, sitting just below the 5-star standard. Souris was unable to comment on which hotel group was linked to the project, but confirmed it would not compete against The Star’s ‘6-star’, The Darling. As detailed in the November update on the SICEEP website, a “hotel use” site is earmarked for the Northern Sector of the precinct near the water at the existing Convention Centre. Two groups of companies have submitted bids to design, plan and operate the new facilities, Destination Sydney and VeNuSW. Among VeNuSW’s partners (via a joint venture with Plenary Group) is Hilton Worldwide. Back in June, Hilton Worldwide announced plans to debut its DoubleTree by Hilton brand in the Australian market with a new build property in Karratha, WA, saying at the time the DoubleTree brand has potential growth prospects in Australasia.

(Source: Business Events News 5/12/12)

Entertainment Centre loses 4000 seats

A plan to build a 12,000-seat stadium to replace the Sydney Entertainment Centre has been dumped in favour of an 8000-seater arena.
Infrastructure NSW is due to present its plans for the new Sydney Convention site to cabinet for approval after receiving proposals from two private consortiums.
Defending the decision to downgrade the ageing Darling Harbour venue, an INSW spokeswoman claims that Sydney already has Allphones Arena at Homebush, which seats 13,500, for bigger concerts.
“It is proposed the new entertainment venue at Darling Harbour will have a minimum seating capacity of 8000 people,” the INSW spokeswoman said.
In the past decade, only a handful of events at the Entertainment Centre were for 8000 people or more.
“While the existing Sydney Entertainment Centre has a capacity of 12,000 people in sports mode, it seats 10,000 people in concert mode,” the spokeswoman said.
Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee said there was an argument that with The Star casino opening a 4000-seat complex and the Allphones Arena housing 13,500, there needed to be a mid-sized venue.

Source: The Daily Telegraph Friday 23 November 2012 Page 9

Glebe Island Expo

News to hand is that five groups have submitted tenders to design, build & operate an interim venue on Glebe Island – the Glebe Island Expo. The plan is to host exhibitions and trade shows while construction takes place on the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct (SICEEP) from late 2013 to late 2016. The bidders are: Infrastructure Glebe Island Consortium, which include: Cox Richardson Architecture Pty Ltd, Singex Venues Pte Ltd; iEDM Pty Ltd; Probuild Construction (Aust) Pty Ltd - Sydney Harbour Expo@ Glebe Island: Pages Equipment Holdings Pty Ltd - GL Events SA- Expertise Events and Renascent Sydney Pty Ltd. While the successful tenderer will develop detailed plans, the Glebe Island Expo is likely to be constructed as a marquee-style structure. The successful tenderer is expected to be selected in December 2012, while the Glebe Island Expo is to start operating by late 2013.

Metro Hotels Exhibits at BTTB

Metro Hotels exhibits at BTTB

Over the past few years, travel managers and suppliers have had to contend with dramatic and often unpredictable changes in the business environment. Natural disasters, financial crisis, political turmoil and civil unrest made travel planning difficult and put pressures not only on travellers, but also on their managers.

With so much uncertainty surrounding their roles, travel managers need as much information as possible about the aspects they can control, and this year’s BTTB Australia conference aimed to provide vital insights into the travel supply chain. From pricing trends to global best practice, the conference content aimed to draw on the best information out there and apply it to the demands of Australasian travel management.

Over two days, delegates heard from leading experts as well as learnt from their peers in a conference programme that addressed the key issues of the day.

Now in its 13th year, also included the region’s biggest business travel trade show where leading suppliers such as Metro Hotels were on hand to demonstrate their products, services and solutions and discuss developments in their particular field.

BESydney information session on Dreamtime 2011 and AIME 2012

Join Business Events Sydney (BESydney) for a combined presentation from Tourism Australia on Dreamtime 2011 and REED on Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME) 2012.

Many stakeholders have requested information about BESydney's involvement in these activities. This combined briefing will answer your questions about both these events at one time.

Thomas Hill, Business Events Australia Trade Programs Manager, and Sally de Swart, REED Exhibitions Event Director, will talk to you about how you can be involved in both programs.

BESydney will also detail our involvement and your opportunities to participate.

Date: Thursday 15 September 2011

Meet: Wolfies

Address: 17 Circular Quay West, Sydney

Time: 6pm-8pm

This event is open to any stakeholder who has an interest in either of these two important programs. Please RSVP by clicking on the responses below by Friday, 2 September 2011.

Email - stakeholders@besydney.com.au