Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria, operated by SingEx Venues, unveiled a refreshed brand, as well as a host of new facilities and services, during the EXPO 2.0 Launch Festival last Thursday.
Themed “Your Community EXPOrience”, the event was attended by some 1,000 guests from the MICE sector. New offerings include FleX, a modular breakout room solution; ApeX, a plug-and-play high-tech plenary hall; and Xpert, an in-house event planning service.
FleX is a collection of sustainable and acoustically treated ‘building block’ spaces that can adopt different themes, and be configured with different layouts to suit a customer’s requirements. FleX is designed to accommodate the growth of hybrid events where versatile meeting and conference spaces and break-out and entertainment areas are required alongside exhibitions.
Complementing the modular meeting village is ApeX, a plug-and-play high-tech plenary hall that integrates experiential and digital components. Featuring telescopic seating and a stage with a 54m by 5m configurable screen suitable for opening events and major presentations, ApeX can be utilised concurrently with FleX, other halls at the venue, or the 32 meeting rooms should organisers wish to hold conferences and conventions alongside exhibitions and break-out meetings.
Meanwhile, through Xpert, new customers to the events space will be able to access to a team of experienced planners. Some recent events that took advantage of the Xpert service include the Singapore Health & Biomedical Congress 2019, ESTRO meets Asia 2019, public events for former US president Barack Obama and former first lady of the US Michelle Obama, and the upcoming Alzheimer’s Disease International Conference 2020.
As part of Xpert, exhibitors will also have access to a new online portal, the Exhibitor Service Centre, which allows them to conveniently book a range of services online, from booth set-ups to F&B and technology services.
The venue’s F&B offerings have also been given an upgrade. New elements comprise the Kinetic Kitchen, the central production kitchen with research and development (R&D) capabilities; K2, a private dining room where VVIPs and special guests can partake in bespoke meals; and one77°, a bistro café showcasing fusion Singaporean cuisine. F&B Colony, an urban food hall showcasing some of Singapore’s ‘hawkerpreneurs’ and F&B concepts, is also set to open later this year.
Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria has also made a commitment to source ingredients from local farms and suppliers, as well as employ a farm-to-table approach to its food. Some of the sustainable ingredients sourced from local suppliers include homegrown barramundi farmed in the waters of Singapore’s south coast from Kühlbarra; locally-produced soft-shell crab from Crab Lovers Farm; and vegetables from Veggie Life, grown at Singapore’s first indoor vegetable farm.
This entire refresh comes on the back of SingEx Venues’ successful tender bid in November 2018 to continue operating Singapore’s largest MICE venue for up to 10 years.
Aloysius Arlando, CEO of SingEx Holdings, said in a statement: “We are tremendously excited to introduce these new offerings as we believe that they are imperative to us creating multi-sensorial experiences for future communities and bringing Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria to new heights. This refreshed version of the venue is going to profile Singapore as a true leading, progressive MICE destination.”
