Where will business be carried out during London 2012?

City Hall, the Mayor’s headquarters located next to Tower Bridge and opposite the Tower of London, will become a base for UK firms to network with international business leaders during the Olympic Games.

The offices of London Mayor Boris Johnson are being rebranded as 'London House' and more than 100 business leaders from around the world from companies such as Microsoft, Paramount Pictures, Time Warner and LG will attend. 

London House will host debates, seminars and receptions and allow companies in the technology, creative, environmental and financial services sectors to meet and share knowledge. 

Mayor Johnson said: “London House will actively showcase the capital’s fantastic array of artistic, cultural and business assets. It will portray London as the business capital of the world, a thriving centre for international firms to locate in, with a rich pool of talent.” 

“We have to capitalise on this positive momentum. As Mayor, I will do all I can to help secure the Olympic legacy that has always been promised. By driving investment and helping to deliver thousands of new jobs, homes and infrastructure, we can make London an even better place to live and work, long after the Games have gone.” 

Meanwhile, Lancaster House, a stately home close to Buckingham Palace with a large garden space, will act as a trade hub for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the Games. 

The British government agency, UK Trade & Investment, will hold events for visiting countries and seek to promote the UK to international markets and secure inward investment. 

Lancaster House is located on the Mall and is used exclusively for government hospitality.

UKTI will also have a strong presence alongside Tech City companies at Hackney House in Shoreditch.

Hackney House is a free-to-enter temporary structure on Shoreditch High Street. It's at the heart of the borough’s plans to showcase the area’s investment opportunities to the media and a host of global business leaders. 

In just three years, Tech City has expanded from about 15 companies to more than 700 who have set up base in and around Shoreditch. These include Groupon, Moo.com, Songkick, Wildfire, Moshi Monsters creator Mind Candy and Tweetdeck.

Other business hubs planned for London 2012 include The Retreat at The Brewery on Chiswell Street, which has partnered up with the Financial Times and is offering high-speed broadband internet. 

Hospitality and meetings amongst National Olympic Committee members, athletes and dignitaries will also take place at venues across the UK capital.  

French House will be at Old Billingsgate in the City, Casa Italia is at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster and Czech House will be hosted by the Business Design Centre in Islington. 

Belgium’s National Olympic Committee (BOIC) will take over Inner Temple, one of four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) located close to the Royal Courts of Justice in the City. Whilst, German House will take over the Museum of London Docklands, a listed Georgian warehouse on the Isle of Dogs. 

Home to the Royal Aeronautical Society, No 4 Hamilton Place behind Park Lane will be used by the Japanese National Olympic Committee for formal meetings, receptions and dinners. 

Plus, Slovak House is taking over two of the 12 available event spaces at the Institute of Director's head office at 116 Pall Mall. The Slovakian National Olympic Committee will entertain, conduct business and host press conferences at the IoD headquarters. 

The remainder of the IoD headquarters will become the British Business Club during the Olympic period and provide members with a base from which to work and avoid the difficulties of traveling into the office each day. 

What I did on St George's Day

Apparently, it was more by luck than judgement that the inaugural British Inspiration Awards fell on St George’s Day. No matter, as this new set of awards were such a success that an annual event is surely now on the cards and deserves its place in the diary alongside England's Patron Saint.

The brains behind the idea for a set of awards celebrating the best of the UK’s creative, artistic and scientific talent is the UK managing director of Nintendo, David Yarnton and Simon Harvey, managing director of Barrington Harvey Public Relations.

I confess, I’ve been to many an awards ceremony in my time and seen far too many fail to live up to expectations due to poor production, an unprepared host or dire catering. Before walking through the wrought iron gates of the Brewery, I maybe feared the worst, that this event wouldn’t have the pulling power in its first year to attract the people it was looking to celebrate and it could just be a very nice lunch, with lots of ‘sorry they couldn’t be here’ acceptance speeches at one of London’s leading events venues.

I’m glad to say how wrong I was (apart from the bit about a nice lunch. An imaginative menu of blackened salmon, welsh lamb followed by ring cake and huge portions - apparently a trademark of the Brewery’s event catering).

The British Inspiration Awards not only attracted 350 paying guests but it also saw Philip Schofiled, Ant & Dec, Michael Eavis, Elisabeth Murdoch and host Richard Madeley tread the red carpet. Entertainment came from the pipes and drums of the Welsh Guards, hip hop dance troop the Smash Bro’z, the Graffiti Kings and Sheffield indie rockers Reverand and The Makers.

The set and stage was a far higher quality than one would imagine for a debut event, mainly because someone had had the vision to recycle it over two consecutive events (possibly the real reason for the date decider). And if anyone is looking for a professional host, edgier that his onscreen persona and surprisingly funny, then I’d happily recommend Richard Madeley.

As for the winners, well, Philip Schofield collected a design award on behalf of Sir Terence Conran, Matthew Bourne collected his award in person for his contribution to the arts and Ant & Dec presented a special recognition award to Glastonbury festival creator Michael Eavis.

Other winners included Elisabeth Murdoch (Television), Nick Park (Film), Sir George Martin (Music), Alexander McQueen (Fashion), Sir James Dyson (Innovation & Industry), Baroness Susan Greenfield (Science & Technology) and Ian Livingstone (Interactive Entertainment).

Congratulations to everyone involved for an excellent idea in support of some worthwhile charities. I know where I’d like to be celebrating England’s dragon-slayer next year.

Photos by Rick Bronks.

Iris Experience takes centre stage at Event Awards

Congratulations to Iris Experience, who walked away with the top prize at this year’s Event Awards.
The agency, whose clients include Sony Ericsson, Sony Electronics, PlayStation, Amnesty International and Unilever, was placed in four other categories at this year’s ceremony.

Iris won Creative Event of the Year for Sony Ericsson Night Tennis and Best Brand Activity at a Festival or Public Event for Ibiza Rocks with Sony Ericsson. It also achieved two finalist spots for Best Brand Experience Campaign and Agency of the Year.

The Event Awards 2008, organised by Haymarket Events and my former employer Event magazine took place on 26 September at London’s Hilton Hotel, Park Lane. Some 600 guests gathered to see trophies handed out in 24 categories ranging from venue awards to Caterer of the Year and Exhibition Organiser of the Year.

Winners included GSP for Agency of the Year, Brand Events for Exhibition Organiser of the Year, Zafferano for Caterer of the Year and Private Drama Events for Entertainment of the Year.
The Innocent Village Fete, which takes place annually in Regent’s Park won its agency Sledge the award for Best Brand Experience Campaign. The Metro Ski and Snowboard Show at Olympia won organiser DMG World Media an award for Most Improved Consumer Exhibition. And agency Sprout (pictured) won Best Use of a Blank Canvas Space for the launch of the Infiniti Europe luxury car brand during the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.

The venue awards went to The Brewery for Best Conference or Purpose Built Venue, Sony Colour Rooms for Unique Venue of the Year and the Sheepdrove Eco Conference Centre, which won the Green Award. London’s Royal Parks walked away with Venue In-house Events Team of the Year and Stage One won Supplier of the Year.