On 30 January, the city of Chambéry will unveil its Phare, a purpose-built space designed to host sporting fixtures, cultural events and economic meetings. The opening will be followed by two open house days (31 January and 1 February) to enable local residents to celebrate ownership of such a fantastic facility. Built by Chambéry’s city authorities, the building represents a financial investment of 41.5 million euros. Situated right next door to SavoiExpo, Chambéry’s exhibition park, it offers 12,000 m² of usable space with the possibility of 1000 seats for a small show or a mixture of 6000 standing spaces and seats for a large concert.

Chambéry’s city council chose the Vega company to manage Le Phare, following its experience with 17 centres in France including Antarès in Le Mans, Docks Océane in Le Havre and Arènes in Metz. Renaud Grolée is Le Phare’s MD and he’s banking on the location of Chambéry at the heart of the Alps as well as the excellent air transport links to make Le Phare shine far beyond its local area.

Depending on how it is configured, the main hall can take 4600 spectators for a Chambéry Savoie Handball match, 5400 for a basket ball match or 6000 for a boxing tournament, explains Renaud Grolée. But it can also be used for a plenary session involving 4500 delegates, with organisers having access to three or four break-out rooms, as well as for conferences, seminars and concerts – all of which puts us in direct competition with centres such as the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon or the Zénith in Saint-Étienne.

Renaud Grolée also wants to emphasise the complementary nature of the relationship between Le Phare and SavoiExpo : It is perfectly possible to use the two buildings simultaneously, which is one of the reasons why we set up Savoie Événements, a commercial body whose main task is to seek out major national and international conference business. Moreover, we can also work jointly with both the Manège and the Espace Malraux, Chambéry’s two other meeting spaces.

It is clear that Le Phare is heralding strong ambitions. It can be rented out for 7000 €, which includes the setting up of a stage, flexible stalls, the installation of seating and the availability of 400 m² function rooms. The venue also boasts a large, fully equipped kitchen which can be used by outside caterers. All of which means that it has the necessary tools to be successful on the business tourism and events market. The managing company Vega has already signed several major contracts with, notably, the convention of ANPE Rhône-Alpes staff at the end of June (4000 participants expected) and a concert by the group Indochine in December. Le Phare has also applied to host a round of the Davis Cup…