The CEO of London’s largest events venue, ExCeL London, has heralded today’s announcement on the Elizabeth line opening as a ‘game-changer’ for the city and the recovery of the UK’s £32.1 billion events industry.
With the Royal Docks venue now having its own dedicated Elizabeth line station, in addition to two existing DLR stops, CEO Jeremy Rees says it will cut journey times by up to two-thirds when it opens on May 24, with the resulting time saved leading to a significant increase in networking and commercial trade from delegates.
Furthermore, according to a recent report by i-Transport, the new line will see the number of people within 45 minutes rail travel time of ExCeL increase by up to 68%, and those living within 120 minutes (by rail) rising to 9.2 million.
The high-speed Elizabeth line, which now becomes part of the existing TFL network, stretches more than 60 miles from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, with 24 trains running 2 per hour once fully operational. For ExCeL, visitors from central London will now be able to reach the venue in as little as 12 minutes, whilst door-to-door from Heathrow Airport will be just 43 minutes.
Rees comments, “Following unprecedented times for us all, this year is critical to the recovery of the live events industry across London and the UK. Today’s announcement that the Elizabeth line will open on May 24th is undoubtedly a game-changer that will both revolutionize and spearhead that revival.
“In addition to reducing journey times and expanding catchment areas, we expect to see an even higher percentage of C-Suite delegates attending our events as a direct consequence. In short, the Elizabeth line will give people more of that most precious of commodities–time–allowing them increased opportunities to network, learn and of course trade, just as we saw pre-pandemic when some £165 billion was transacted per year at UK events.”
He adds, “ExCeL is now arguably the world’s most connected event venue with two underground lines, one mainline station, an airport, road links, bus services, water taxis and even a cable car all within earshot.”
Since reopening last summer, ExCeL has welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors to the venue and is set to host 350 events this year including the all-electric Formula E championship (July 30 – 31) and the International Liver Congress (June 22 – 26). ExCeL has also embarked on an impressive 25,000sqm expansion program to further enhance its world-class facilities and demonstrating further confidence in the return of live face-to-face events.
