Chambéry, which already boasts a number of superior facilities for the business tourism market including the Manège conference centre, the Espace Malraux and the SavoiExpo exhibition centre, is getting ready to strike another blow with the planned opening at the end of 2008 of Le Phare.

It will be a large multi-functional facility which will only be matched in the Rhône-Alpes by the facilities in Lyon and Grenoble, confirms Bernadette Laclais, vice-president responsible for the publicly-owned facilities in Chambéry and the surrounding district as well as vice-president in charge of Culture at the Conseil Régional Rhône-Alpes. Designed by local architect Jean-Loup Patriarche, Le Phare can be used for different functions, from commercial to sporting and cultural events. It will offer space of 12,000 m² and will cost 32.1 million euros, financed by the Communauté d’Agglomération de Chambéry with support from the State, the Region as well as the Conseil Général de la Savoie .

This Savoyard Phare will be built on recently acquired land next to SavoiExpo. The first stone was laid on 16 February this year, marking the 50^th anniversary of the creation of the Communauté d’Agglomération de Chambéry Métropole, which covers 24 communes and 124,000 residents.

This particular design caught the attention of the jury because it fulfilled a function that is three-fold, continues Bernadette Laclais. Its flexible staging capabilities will be very interesting, enabling it also to be used for handball matches . Located at the crossroads of two motorways, the A41 and the A43, it will have excellent transport connections and will certainly reinforce Chambéry’s appeal as a business tourism destination, with the possibility of organising new events in partnership with SavoiExpo. Business tourism is a priority market for us which is why, in 2002, we created an EPIC (a publicly-owned establishment focusing on industrial and commercial development) which is in charge of promoting this sector of activity .

When set up for a sporting event, Le Phare will be able to hold 4600 to 5100 seated spectators, depending on the sport involved, and for shows, conferences and meetings its capacity will be 3000 seats or a total of 5800 (seated and standing). With this facility, the city of Chambéry will be able to target the larger conferences involving several thousand delegates and will rely on both the local hotel infrastructure and that of Aix-les-Bains, which is what was done for the Grand Ski workshop. It will also mean that the city is in a perfect position to develop tradeshows, exhibitions and company meetings. Together with the Cité Internationale and Eurexpo in Lyon, Alpexpo in Grenoble and the Centre de Congrès in Saint-Étienne, Le Phare will be a worthy addition to the Rhône-Alpes’ impressive range of business tourism facilities.

Bonus : Grand Ski reaches even higher