On 2 December, Roanne will be in party mood for the inauguration of the Scarabée, its brand new event venue which is purpose built for exhibitions, fairs, trade shows, conferences and seminars as well as for concerts and various other kinds of entertainment. Designed by Alain Serfati, one of the top names in contemporary architecture, the elegant Scarabée required an investment of 14.5 million euros. It is planning to do battle with its regional competitors, either in St-Etienne or Lyon. In order to ensure the very best start, the venue’s local directors have decided to put GL Events in charge of its management.

Whilst the inauguration of the venue is planned for 2 December, the first event will be organised just four days later when the Scarabée kicks off with an amazing concert by Charles Aznavour (500 spectators are expected) followed by a number of other meetings until the Christmas period marked by a Christmas exhibition that will bring together 150 exhibitors between 12 and 14 December and the Biennale Textile et Innovation (400 participants) between 16 and 17 December.

So a racing start for this new facility, under the direction of Laurence Bussière who is also in charge of Saint-Étienne’s Centre de Congrès and Grand Cercle. The local Roanne-based companies need to think of it as their facility and realise that they don’t necessarily need to go to Lyon for their meetings, she explains. And we’re very hopeful that this is the case because we’ve already signed contracts for 28 events in 2009, with our target fixed at 30. In the business tourism sector, we know that we’ll need to use every weapon we have so we’re targeting those niche markets where Roanne already has influence, such as textiles, gastronomy, food processing and farming .

The 2009 diary for the Scarabée fits perfectly within the established criteria, with the 100^th anniversary of Cegelec on 8 January, the Élan Bureautique convention on 20 January, the Rose des Vins trade show on 20-22 January, the INEO company conference at the end of January, a tourism show between 26 and 28 February, a lifestyle and wellbeing show from 6 to 8 March and a car show from 12 to 15 March.

If you want to get a close up view of the Scarabée from the inside, you should take note that it offers an internal exhibition area of 3120 m², which will take 150 stands measuring 9 m², 12,000 m² of external exhibition space, a 1000 m² reception hall and bar area, parking for 1000 vehicles and 20 spaces for coaches, a large stage area for conferences or gala dinners for up to 1000 people and four other rooms for between 70 and 200 people. For a company conference, the rate per participant works out at between 30 and 60 € per day inclusive of room hire, set up by GL Events and catering.