Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island open for exhibitions!
by Jeni Bone on 18 Feb 2014
boat-show-view SW
The finishing touches are being made to Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island (SCEC@GI), the interim facility which will house the $100 million per annum Sydney exhibition industry for the next three years while the new world-class ICC Exhibition is constructed at Darling Harbour.
The first event, Reed Gift Fairs Sydney, February 15 to 19, is expected to attract 30,000 visitors.
Malu Barrios, General Manager of SEC@GI, has been a regular visitor to the site and has watched its transformation into exhibition space of up to 25,000sqm. 'We are all looking forward to hosting the first exhibition in February and our commissioning event, held last Friday, allowed us to trial all our services.
'This was a good opportunity to test the venue operations, transport, logistics and catering ahead of the first major exhibition and we were pleased with the outcomes. We asked visitors to rate their experience and 83% of those surveyed said it was excellent or good so we were pleased with those results.'
Domenic Genua, event manager at BIA NSW, attended the official opening and has visited the first event. 'It was important to see how the event worked, all the logistics and the way the venue functions. We are very confident that the show will shine at the new venue. The time we have spent at the venue over the last 12 months was during construction, but physically being onsite with the event contractors, seeing the logistics of deliveries and bumping in were all lessons for us. Come July, when our boat show is on, we have had the benefit of learning from other people's experiences.'
Genua said the work that Infrastructure NSW and venue operators have come up with is 'excellent'. 'There is a free bus service between key locations, Glebe Island and Darling Harbour and traveling on the free ferry service is bloody nice! It's a good way for our visitors to enjoy the trip to and from the Glebe Island facility and take in our water assets. For those who have to drive, Glebe Island is not actually an island, it's a facility that can be accessed by car, buses and taxis and there will be parking on the premises, for a fee. There are 900 parking spaces, the same as under the Exhibition Halls.'
Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island is the new home for Sydney's major trade and consumer exhibitions during the development of the world class Sydney international convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct at Darling Harbour.
Opening this month for the 2014 exhibition season, Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island will offer up to 25,000 square metres of high quality space specifically constructed for Sydney's exhibitions and tradeshows.
Located on Sydney's magnificent harbour foreshore near the ANZAC Bridge, this fresh new venue will offer contemporary pop-up eating spaces, captivating views of Sydney's harbour and icons, and scheduled special event transport on show days.
Sydney Exhibition Centre will offer pavilion-style fully-serviced exhibition space of 20,000 square metres, with the option for an additional 5,000 square metres for temporary expansion for larger trade and consumer exhibitions. The four permanent halls will provide between 2,000 and 9,600 square metres each.
Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island will be just minutes from all the excitement and attractions of Darling Harbour.
Free special event transport will provide easy access to Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island on exhibition event days. Regular scheduled ferry services will operate from Darling Harbour, with regular scheduled shuttle bus services from Central Station.
A taxi rank and drop-off point will be located outside Sydney Exhibition Centre and limited paid parking will be available onsite.
There is no pedestrian access; however, on exhibition centre event days a shuttle bus will pick up visitors and exhibitors from selected bus stops and parking locations in the immediate vicinity.
Full transport arrangements and special event transport timetables will be determined on an event by event basis, with details available at sydneyexhibitioncentre.com.au and from the event website at the time of ticketing or registration.
Over at Darling Harbour, the new International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), Exhibition Centre and Theatre are scheduled to open in late 2016. For the latest updates on this exciting transformation project visit www.darlingharbourlive.com.au
More at www.sydneyexhibitioncentre.com.au
Fast Facts:
• 15,000 square metres of space (each of the three 5000sqm spaces will be $16,000 per day).
• An additional 10,000 square metres of space available for larger events
• Hardstand floor finish
• Minimum ceiling height of 6m
• Loading dock
• Air conditioning
• PA system
• Site WiFi coverage
• F&B available on an event-driven basis
• Temporary ferry terminal to be operating during event days
• Event-driven shuttle ferry service connected to Darling Harbour (included in rental)
• Event-driven CBD shuttle bus service (included in rental)
• Taxi rank
• Up to 1000 car spaces
Source: Infrastructure NSW
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