Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre
| Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address |
Bridge of Don Aberdeen Scotland AB23 8BL |
| Owner | Aberdeen City Council |
| Renovated | 2003 |
| Opened | 1985 |
Classroom-style seating | 440 (Fleming Auditorium) |
| Banquet/ballroom |
685 (Gordon Suite) 533 (Crombie Suite) 244 (Forbes Suite) |
Theatre seating |
8,500 (GE Oil & Gas Arena) 2,000 (Boyd Orr Hall) |
| Enclosed space | |
| • Total space | 9,849 square metres (110,000 sq ft) |
| • Exhibit hall floor | 7,300 square metres (79,000 sq ft) |
| • Breakout/meeting | 1,033 square metres (11,000 sq ft) |
Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (also known as the General Electric Exhibition Centre and often shortened to the AECC), is a large exhibition and conference complex, in Aberdeen, Scotland. The complex is home to a Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotel, conference facilities and the 4,800-seat multi-purpose GE Oil and Gas Arena (formerly the Press & Journal Arena from 2002-2012), which can hold around 4,000 to 8,500 people, depending on the size of the performance.
The arena currently hosts local sporting events, including the Aberdeen Cup tennis event. In recent years, the AECC underwent a major refurbishment, with the conference facilities being completely re-built. As part of the redevelopment, a large viewing tower was constructed and is one of the tallest structures in Aberdeen.
Events
History
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Oasis have played several times over the years – their first being two performances on the 19–20 September 1997. They returned for another two gigs on the 9–10 September 2002 and once more on the 12 December 2005. They performed their most recent, and probably last concerts at the venue on the 1–2 November 2008. All these gigs were sold out in a matter of minutes. Noel Gallagher returned to the venue on the 14 February 2012 as part of his High Flying Birds Tour. The concert was a sell-out.
Neil Young and AC/DC are some the biggest acts in its history when AC/DC played in 1996 and Young in 2009.
On 15 June 2014, American country star Dolly Parton performed a sold out concert at the venue. The concert sold out in less than 10 minutes from going on sale.[1]
In the last few years it has hosted major international acts including the likes of blink-182, Rihanna, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, The Killers, Hey Ocean, Katy Perry and Paramore, as well as comedians such as Frankie Boyle, Ricky Tomlinson, Peter Kay, Michael McIntyre and Russell Howard.
One Direction have also played the AECC as part of The X Factor Live Tour 2011.
Since 2006, it has played host to the Premier League Darts.
| Year | Week | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Week 3 | Thursday March 2 |
| 2007 | Week 6 | Thursday March 8 |
| 2008 | Week 10 | Thursday April 3 |
| 2009 | Week 12 | Thursday April 23 |
| 2010 | Week 12 | Thursday April 29 |
| 2011 | Week 9 | Thursday April 7 |
| 2012 | Week 2 | Thursday February 16 |
| 2013 | Week 2 | Thursday February 14 |
| 2014 | Week 11 | Thursday April 17 |
The arena has also played host to WWE wrestling events, Torville and Dean, Disney on Ice, World Snooker's Grand Prix Championship, The X Factor Live Tour and The Britain's Got Talent Live Tour.
Replacement Centre
In September 2012, it was announced that talks were in place to replace the then 27 year old arena with a new £20 Million arena built in the same place. The reason given was that the arena was missing out on big acts due to capacity constraints and a solution to this would be to expand past the capacity past 8000.[2] On 18 October 2013, Aberdeen City Council announced that the council planned to spend £200 Million on a rebuild or possible relocation of the AECC.[3] On 31 October 2013, it was announced that Aberdeen City Council had voted to go ahead with the project and announced that Henry Boot were the preferred development partner and artist impressions were released. They also announced that the new centre and arena would be built at the Rowett Institute currently owned by the University of Aberdeen in the Bucksburn area of the city near Aberdeen Airport. The council plan to have the project completed by 2017 and will include a 10,000 seating capacity and 15,000 standing capacity arena, offices, leisure space, adjoining 4 star hotel and a further 2 hotels.[4][5] On 1 November 2013, an artist impression was released of what the new AECC could look like and this is expected to cost approximately £185 Million.[6] Throughout September 2014 a final public consultation took place prior to a final planning application being submitted.[7]
References
- ↑ http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/showbiz/dolly-parton-s-aberdeen-gig-sells-out-in-minutes-1.146131
- ↑ http://local.stv.tv/aberdeen/news/arts-culture/189665-aecc-in-talks-over-new-20m-arena-to-bring-top-stars-to-the-city/
- ↑ http://news.stv.tv/north/244330-aberdeen-city-council-plan-new-200m-venue-to-replace-aecc/
- ↑ http://aecc.co.uk/new-200-million-venue-for-aecc-aberdeen-given-go-ahead-by-city-council/
- ↑ http://news.stv.tv/north/246495-aecc-to-be-moved-to-a-new-site-near-dyce-in-redevelopment-plan/
- ↑ http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/local/first-peek-at-how-new-185m-aecc-could-look-1.148348
- ↑ http://aecc.co.uk/the-venue/aecc-redevelopment/
External links
- Official website - Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre
- http://www.aeccevolves.co.uk/ - Redevelopment Website
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