Clothes Show forced to compensate for London transport nightmare
Haymarket Exhibitions, organiser of Clothes Show London, has reacted swiftly to Transport for London’s (TFL) part-closure of the Docklands Light Railway, laying on buses for the hordes of visitors expected today, and over the weekend.
The organiser and the venue Excel London has also created additional free parking to compensate for the public transport nightmare, which one TFL staffer branded ’political’.
"They’re only worried about the Olympics, not the fashion show. It’s all political and this won’t be fixed until at least Tuesday (2 June)," he told Event.
TFL is also operating a replacement bus service that is now in place, but the problems are not expected to be fixed until next week.
Simon Daukes, managing director, Haymarket Exhibitions, told Event that TFL transport closures often cause problems for events held at Excel London.
"We have put contingency plans in place so that visitors to the show will face minimal disruption. For us and Excel however, the disruption has been huge. It is not yet clear whether TFL will compensate for this extra cost."
The Clothes Show London, which is being held at Excel London from 29 to 31 May, is expected to include the public return of Katie Price (Jordan). It will feature a 2,500-seat Fashion Theatre, where the model, who recently split from singer Peter Andre, will strut her stuff.
A host of boutiques where visitors can buy the latest fashion, hair and beauty products will form the bulk of the show, ticket pre-sales for which are said to be above expectations, with 20,000 people poised to visit this weekend.
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Edinburgh International Conference Centre plans £85m extension
The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has submitted a planning permission request for an £85m extension scheme, which will add further event space by 2013.
The plans include "additional function space, including a multi-purpose hall, break-out areas, café and office accommodation and a new atrium entrance to the facility".
"The EICC requires no ongoing operational funding support from the council and has proven its resilience," said councillor Tom Buchanan, economic development convener at City of Edinburgh Council. "These plans will therefore let us play to our strengths and build a successful future for both the EICC and for Edinburgh."
Architecturally, the scheme features a new wedge-shaped atrium that will provide an alternative entrance to the additional function space, and will sit between the existing EICC building and the separate commercial office development. The office building comprises eight storeys with the top two levels recessed to create a rooftop terrace.
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Isle of Wight Festival implements sustainability technology
The Isle of Wight Festival is using an online management system for BS8901 to make sure it is as sustainable as possible this summer.
Eco Action Partnership is working with festival organisers using the ’eventberry’ system to manage sustainability.
"It’s a great example of how modern technology can help make events more sustainable," said Seventeen Events MD Andrew Williams, who is also working on the project. "Even though we are all based in different parts of the country – London, Brighton and the Isle of Wight – we can communicate using the system and record all of the sustainable details necessary to comply with BS8901. It also demonstrates the power and flexibility of the eventberry system to cope with large and small projects."
The festival runs from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 June and this year features The Prodigy, Stereophonics and Neil Young.
Seventeen has also published a free-to-download sustainable events guide.
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Prince Harry’s NYC trip branded a PR success by senior PROs
Senior PR professionals have praised the handling of Prince Harry’s trip to the US this week. The Prince has just completed his first official overseas engagement in New York and the trip has served well to distance him from previous negative press attention, say PROs.
Hill & Knowlton creative director Peter Lawlor said the media coverage had been handled well. ‘The trip was clever to play to his strengths. It showed him playing polo and also picked up on his good work in Africa. It was very simply done and came across as geneuine.’
Prince Harry visited a children’s centre and also took part in a polo event on Governors Island to raise money for his Sentebale charity as part of the trip.
Trimedia CEO Loretta Tobin also branded the exercise an ‘unqualified success’.
Tobin said: ‘The trip managed to make the Royal Family look relevant, which is something that they struggle with. It was a smart agenda with him playing with children in a school and visiting the Ground Zero site. All of the images are very strong.’
However, Ketchum head of strategic media Richard Griffiths warned that Prince Harry still posed a PR risk. ’The US trip was a PR success which quite simply kept him busy and out of trouble. While Harry comes across as a genuine, self-effacing character, he’s still a young guy who’s going to need ongoing communciations advice to stop him being a PR risk.’
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Big Brother puts sadism first in slum house
In the tenth series of Channel 4’s ’Big Brother’, which starts tonight, the contestants will have a rough start, spending their first night sleeping on the floor and bathing in cold water.
The contestants, eight men and eight women, will not get access to the full Big Brother house until they individually earn their housemate status over the next three days by completing a set of tasks.
Each task has been designed to challenge the contestants’ pride and fears, and some will require the participants to go head to head in a bid to become an official housemate.
Until the contestants successfully complete the tasks, they will only be able to access a toilet, the garden and a living room void of any creature comforts.
They won’t have access to their suitcases and will be forced to spend their first night sleeping on the living room floor.
The only accessible washing facilities will be a bath in the garden, which can only be filled by carrying cold water in a hole-ridden bucket across the garden.
Big Brother 10, which starts tonight at 9pm and is sponsored by Lucozade, is set to last for 13 weeks. The winning housemate will walk away with £100,000.
All 16 people entering the house have been in hiding for the past few weeks. They have been described as "the most diverse group yet", from a wide range of countries and backgrounds.
The eldest person is 40 and the youngest is 18. Only one contestant’s identity has been leaked — a Scottish model called Karly Ashworth.
Viewer numbers have been in steady decline in recent years. The finale of ’Big Brother 9’ last September saw Welsh primary school teacher Rachel crowned the winner and drew 4.7m viewers.
The series averaged an audience of 3.2m viewers, compared with 3.8m in 2007 and 4.5m viewers in 2006.
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