Artist’s impressions of the temporary SEC at Glebe Island have been unveiled amidst a media push to encourage the events community to get behind the new location.

The Glebe Island site is a vantage point to both bridges

In what is being called a ‘blank canvas’, the site is co-located with a working wharf. The purpose-built, hard-walled facility will have 25,000 square metres of fully-enclosed halls that will house Sydney events during the redevelopment of the International Convention Centre (ICC) and ICC Exhibition at Darling Harbour.

BESydney CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith said that around 80 per cent of exhibitions and corporate events that held bookings at the Sydney Convention Centre between 2014 – 16 are expected to be retained in Sydney. These events will be held at various venues around the city, including Glebe Island. During the three-year redevelopment period, inbound groups from Asia are expected to bring additional short-lead business for venues city-wide.

The new site will be managed by AEG Ogden from the end of 2013 and will open for business in February 2014, with a maximum tenure of three years. The progress of the site will be recorded through Instagram and YouTube (social media sites are coming soon). 

Free special event transport will be available on exhibition show days with both scheduled ferries from Darling Harbour and shuttle buses from Central Station.

The Glebe Island site is one of the few places in Sydney where both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the ANZAC Bridge are fully visible and there will be a range of pop-up catering options available, including the possibility of food trucks.