Long live the Show
Page 21
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AS THE LIGHTS go out and the doors close on this year's Scottish Motor Show, there will be more than a few regular visitors who will feel sad that an era is ending. Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, home of the Show since it was opened in 1927, is to be converted into a sports centre and possibly also a transport museum, and the Show will have an imposing new home writes ALAN MILLAR.
While there are those who fear the Show may lose some of the cosiness and informality of its Kelvin Hall days, there is every chance that it will be able to offer its visitors and exhibitors facilities of at least the standard available at the National Exhibition Centre. That, certainly, is the view of Christopher Garrett, chief executive of the Scottish Exhibition Centre (SEC), the £36m complex already under construction on reclaimed dockland only a few minutes' walk from the Kelvin Hall.
The Centre is being built on the 64-acre site of the Queen's Dock, itself constructed in 1880 on the site of a once thriving cotton mill, and is a partnership of public and private sector interests.
Glasgow District Council, which owns most of the site, and Strathclyde Regional Council represent the one-third local government share; the Scottish Development Agency (SDA), which is charged with Scotland's economic regeneration, has been a driving force in creating a major exhibition complex and is providing Garrett with temporary office accommodation; and there is a one-third involvement of banking and financial institutions.
Chairman of the independent SEC company is Jimmy Gordon, an SDA board member and managing director of Radio Clyde, one of Britain's most successful independent radio stations.
It is costing £24m to build the Centre, the remaining £12m being the value of the site. Garrett has been working in Glasgow since August this year, and the steel framework for the Centre is already going into place. Bovis, the construction company which is project manager for SEC, is expected to complete the project by July 1985, with every chance of the next Scottish Motor Show being one of its first, if not the first major exhibition.
Exhibitors used to the cramped quarters available in the 7,500sqm of the Kelvin Hall will have access to 10,000sqm of net display space in the two main halls which, between them, cover 14,500sqm.
These exhibition halls are capable of being run either separately or as one combined display area, and are being built as entirely clear span buildings without supporting columns.
That last point is highly important, Garrett says, as it will make the Centre more cost-effective for exhibitors. The ease of access means that an exhibition which took 10 days to set up at Kelvin Hall will take no more than seven days at the SEC. He also promises that the days of stand building going on throughout press day will be at an end.
He does admit, though, that it will be a more expensive centre for exhibitors. "There is no doubt that Kelvin Hall is a comparatively inexpensive venue for reasons peculiar to Kelvin Hall," he told me, but said it would be stupid for the SEC to believe that it would be able to do other than phase its charges "into line with the 20th century".
But exhibitors should relate the higher charges to the lower occupancy times possible in the purpose-built Centre, he added.
The opportunities for the Scottish Motor Show, and for commercial vehicle exhibitors in particular, are especially exciting. The Scottish Motor Trade Asso ciation has told Garrett that the commercial section, which covers half of the display area at Kelvin Hall, is regularly oversubscribed by half, with a waiting list of exhibitors ready, as happened this year when A. C. Penman's parent company's troubles compelled it to pull out at the last minute, to fill space at the drop of the SMTA's corporate hat.
Far more will be accommodated at the SEC, and it requires little imagination to envisage demand being generated for a substantial commercial vehicle exhibition in its own right.
But the SEC will not just be a large exhibition area. There will be three smaller halls covering between 1,000sqm and 2,500sqm, suitable for large conferences, smaller exhibitions, banqueting, or major sports events. Between them, a glazed concourse area will resemble a boulevard and will double as an additional exhibition area.
Seminar facilities will be available above the exhibition halls, suitable for individual product launches and for such other associated Motor Show events as press conferences and dealer conferences.
Plumbing and power supply have been designed for ease of use by exhibitors, and special attention has been paid to catering facilities. Restaurant and bar facilities are being provided for all the halls, and these will probably be franchised out to catering companies. But Garrett, whose previous career experience has taken him regularly to the NEC at Birmingham, is keen not to lose control over franchisees to the extent that catering charges become excessive.
As part of a determined ef to keep the SEC site a live oni year, a 200-bed tower bl hotel (possibly to be a sister the NEC's Metropole Hotel being incorporated on the sit will offer views east and west and down the River Clyde will be linked directly to Centre.
Transport links also plal strong part in the overall pi age. In addition to space at hotel, there will be parking sp for 3,750 cars and at least coaches, and the site is linkei Glasgow's well developed ur motorway system.
Coaches from Glasgow port will run directly to Centre, there is a possibility direct bus service being from central Glasgow, ani covered bridge is to be from Finnieston Station on Strathclyde PTE-supported gyle Line to the exhibition trance. There may also be at copter landing pad.
According to Garrett, there commitment from Glasgov see that the centre does proper transport transport links, and C gow's Lord Provost, Dr Mic Kelly, even has a dream that day a tramcar link might con the SEC with other attractior the city centre.
Garrett wants the SEC to distinctive complex in its right. "I want it to be a Ii feature in Glasgow," he told but promised he would ri strongly any attempt to a any writing to its silver which will be clearly visible1 the air.
There are also a few histo relics being preserved on patch. The rotunda for the a doned Harbour Tunnel at east end and the pump how the west are both prote buildings, and are the subje separate studies into their ft use, while a giant hammerl dock crane near the tunne tunda will probably be kept symbol of the days w Queen's Dock was alive shipping.
It is also vital that the CE should open with a major e, and Garrett would be very hi if that is the next Scottish SI At present, it looks like bei race between it and the Li Ideas Exhibition — Glasg equivalent of the Ideal Norm hibition.
The Scottish Show may ni be the same again, but visi and exhibitors look like beini from disappointed by change.