News & Media

The versatility of the space within Sandton Convention Centre and its position within the heart of the Sandton CBD, makes it the ideal venue for all types of exhibitions from trade and business shows to consumer and lifestyle events.

The exhibitions industry in South Africa has enjoyed renewed growth and this is evident in the business that Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) has attracted over the past few years. SCC experienced an increase of 27% in exhibitions from 2007 to 2008. Added to the increase in business across a variety of sectors, the actual number of exhibitions staged at SCC since 2003 has doubled, which is a remarkable achievement in the current global economic downturn.
 
Says Alex Granger, General Manager: Sales and Marketing of SCC: “New players are coming into the market and identifying niche markets with opportunity for growth, which is a positive sign. What is also pleasing to us is the variety of exhibitions being staged at SCC, and the fact that the number of consumer and lifestyle exhibitions are on a par with trade shows.

“Our venue is recognised as a world-class facility that is ideally suited to host anything from food, wine and fashion shows, sports expo’s, and art, bridal and lifestyle exhibitions to the more serious international and local trade fairs that target government, professionals, business and the services industries. This year alone, SCC will host more than 40 exhibitions, with an almost equal split between consumer and trade shows.  These figures are most pleasing to us,” continues Granger.

For the fourth consecutive year, SCC was recently awarded the prestigious “Favourite Technical Venue” award, presented by the Technical Production Services Association (TPSA), which demonstrates and reinforces its position as the venue of choice within the industry. “The fact that our convention centre was voted as the favourite technical venue in which to stage events and conferences by TPSA members, is high praise indeed, and we are delighted with this acknowledgement.”

With the current focus on environmental issues, clients can also make use of the venue with confidence knowing that SCC has been flying the ‘green’ flag since its doors opened almost 10 years ago.  As only one of two independently audited venues by The Heritage Foundation of South Africa, the convention centre was awarded Gold Classification status in the Heritage Environmental Rating Programme in 2002 and has retained this prestigious status. Additionally, local and international green building experts shared their knowledge of green building and environmentally sustainable building practices at the Greenbuilding.co.za conference and exhibition, which was held at the Sandton Convention Centre on the 7th and 8th of July 2009.

Sandton Convention Centre’s two main exhibition levels offer a combined floor space of 10 000m², which can accommodate up to 500 stands of 3mx3m in a variety of configurations. Separate access to these two levels is via street level docking and loading areas. The halls are fitted with every resource necessary for the staging of successful and spectacular exhibitions, consumer events and trade shows, including ample overhead rigging fixtures and electrical points, air-conditioning and wireless internet connections.

The centre’s powerful generators also ensure that there is no loss of power to the conference centre should the area be affected by possible power cuts.  “We are in the service industry and cannot afford to be without power. Whether our venue is hosting a high-powered international conference, a regional government meeting such as we did recently for SADC – the first SADC meeting with Jacob Zuma as head of state – or a lifestyle show, we need to know that everything in the centre will operate at 100% to ensure a world-class and seamless event for our client,” says Granger.

“For all exhibitions, the SCC team is on hand to offer a professional service and assist clients with every aspect of the exhibition or event, from initial concept to the final de-rigging of the stands, as we continually strive to deliver a service that exceeds our clients’ expectations,” concludes Granger.

Editor’s note:

Sandton Convention Centre is located in the heart of Sandton’s hotel, business and entertainment district.  The centre offers easy access to more than 5 000 hotel rooms (ranging from economy to deluxe), is adjacent to some of the country’s premium shopping and entertainment complexes (Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square), and provides 10 600 secure parking bays.
Sandton Convention Centre offers unlimited potential with over 22 000m² of state-of-the-art meeting, exhibition and special event space.  Purpose-built to international standards, the convention centre is able to host meetings, conferences, exhibitions and special events of virtually any size and nature.  It offers some of the most advanced technology available for convention and exhibition centres anywhere in the world. 
Multiple events can be staged simultaneously on four main levels, and 10 000 visitors can be accommodated at any one time.  A team of highly-trained staff is on hand to provide support services.
Its central position in Sandton provides easy access to OR Tambo (Johannesburg International) Airport, the Sandton CBD, major hotels and shopping centres. Once launched, the Gautrain will provide a seamless ride from Sandton to the airport in 12 minutes.
Sandton Convention Centre is managed by Southern Sun Hotel Interests and was developed by Tsogo Sun, a dynamic partnership between Southern Sun, Africa’s leading hotel group, and Tsogo Sun Investments, a leading black empowerment group.

For further media information, please contact:

Lilane Swanepoel – Baird’s Renaissance
(011) 504-4000  /  Cell : 083 255 6771  /  e-mail : lilane@bairds.co.za