ExCel London’s Damian Norman has unveiled the vision behind the UK’s “largest immersive entertainment district”.

Immerse LDN, which opened at London’s Royal Docks last August, will span more than 160,000sq ft once fully complete and is dedicated to showcasing immersive experiences and original productions across new purpose-built venue spaces.

Set to the backdrop of ExCel’s new waterfront development, it is home to The Formula 1 Exhibition and The Friends Experience, with Elvis Evolution set to follow in May and two further “chapters” set to be announced soon.

ExCel’s director of immersive events and entertainment Norman tells IQ: “Historically, ExCel as a business had just thought about exhibition space and was extremely good at that, but wanted to evolve the wider campus.

“I went to an immersive art experience in Hyde Park coming out of lockdown and was remarkably impressed, and that got me thinking about how technology was playing a part in the evolution of entertainment. Touring exhibitions used to be glass cases – folks would look at it and move on, and that’s what we were used to – but that started changing quite rapidly and Covid accelerated it, freeing creative minds to focus on that evolution.

“Weirdly, for an industry that’s driven by people being together, being shuttered for a couple of years probably made it the interesting space it is, because it allowed people to really think about what they were doing at a time when they weren’t distracted by anything else.”

“Once all five chapters are open, we’ll be at 2.5 million visitors a year”

Norman ran VOS Media, launching events such as the London Bike Show and The Rouleur Classic, for five years before selling the business to The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) in 2013. As part of the arrangement, he became MD of Telegraph Events, growing its events portfolio from five to 60 events in four years.

He went on to set up Live Mind Consultancy with clients including the International Boat Show and ExCel London, joining the latter permanently in 2019 after leading the venue’s successful bid to host electric motor racing series Formula E. The area’s improved transport links made it an attractive proposition.

“Part of the reason I joined was [to do with] the long-term evolution of the campus, because the Elizabeth Line was coming and that shifted the needle,” explains Norman. “It was very much put to me that, ‘Can you and the estate look at how we evolve long-term and be a meaningful entertainment space to capitalise on the transport?'”

Immerse LDN, which will also support the Mayor of London’s five year plan and multi-billion-pound regeneration programme for the Royal Docks, is aiming to bring together major IP in TV, film, music, art and gaming, as well as a variety of original productions.

“When we say we’re going to be the UK’s first immersive entertainment district, we mean it,” says Norman. “Once all five chapters are open, we’ll be at 2.5 million visitors a year. We’re going to become a major attraction for London and we want to get the best possible partners and create the best possible experience.”

“Will there be a point where music venues all over the world are bringing the greatest artists of all time back to life? I wouldn’t bet against it”

Elvis Evolution opens at the site in May in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises and Authentic Brands Group, the custodians of the Elvis Presley estate.  The “multi-sensory” 110-minute production will take audiences through Presley’s life story and feature seminal performances with the help of cutting-edge technology and generative AI.

“Elvis is one of the most, if not the most, influential artists ever and his story is interesting full-stop,” notes Norman.

Elvis Evolution is the latest presentation from immersive entertainment specialist LR, whose portfolio includes the acclaimed Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience and Gunpowder Plot productions.

“These guys are going to be good custodians, because what a responsibility, and that weight of responsibility isn’t lost on us building this new destination,” says Norman. “We do as much due diligence as we can to pick the best in class, because the owners and operators that we work with are going to be what people associate with the best level.”

While comparisons with ABBA Voyage are inevitable, Norman stresses the 180-cap Elvis Evolution is a “very different” and “much more intimate” attraction. Nevertheless, he admits to being intrigued by the opportunities it could open up for other legendary artists.

“The thing about ABBA Voyage is that you preserve that artist at their best and get that A1 performance each time, and it will be very interesting to see how other people lean into the space,” he muses. “Will there be a point where you have live music venues all over the world bringing some of the greatest artists of all time back to life? I wouldn’t bet against it.

“It’s never going to replicate being at a live gig, and people should always support live music. But these are opportunities to bring artists back to life in a way that has never been seen before.”

• The second edition of ILMC’s Touring Entertainment LIVE (TEL) will bring together the world’s top show and exhibition producers, rights holders, venue operators, and promoters at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on Wednesday 26 February for a day dedicated to the multibillion-dollar sector.

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As demand for hospital beds increases across the world, arenas, stadia and conference centres shuttered by the coronavirus are being repurposed for temporary medical use.

Venue operators in countries including Spain (which has over 33,000 cases at press time), the UK (5,683 cases), Croatia (315 cases), the US (33,404 cases) and Brazil (1,629 cases) are handing over their properties to health authorities to be turned into field hospitals for patients with Covid-19.

In Madrid, Ifema, the 2.9 million m² (31.2m sqft) conference and exhibition centre, has become the largest ‘hospital’ in Spain, welcoming its first 126 patients yesterday and another 90 today (23 March).

Working alongside Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME), the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, installed 300 hospital beds in Ifema the space of 48 hours, with another 1,300 beds expected to be operational by Wednesday.

Though the Ifema hospital is meant for patients with mild symptoms, the venue is also equipped with 96 ICU (intensive care unit) posts, reports El Mundo, with the hospital site covering a total of 35,000m² (376,740sqft).

Authorities credit fangcang with a crucial role in bringing the outbreak in Wuhan under control

Ifema’s transformation is modelled on that of venues in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic originally began late last year.

Wuhan’s 16 fangcang, or shelter hospitals, have been operational since early February, and include hotels, conference centres, arenas, sports stadia and other public venues in the city. According to the Wuhan municipal government, the number of beds in the city, which has a population of more than 11m, reached 30,000 later that month.

Over half of the fangcang beds are now empty, with authorities crediting the shelter hospitals with a crucial role in bringing the outbreak in Wuhan under control.

In Croatia, meanwhile, the 22,000-capacity Arena Zagreb is similarly being transformed into a field hospital with beds for coronavirus patients to free up space in local hospitals, as many of Brazil’s top football teams hand over their stadia while the Série A season is suspended.

Current South American champions Flamengo, who play in red and black, are among the teams giving control of their stadium (in Flamengo’s case, the famous 78,838-seat Maracanã) to health authorities.

“Let us help those who need it most”

“In this grim moment, I wanted to invite our great red and black nation to renew hope and work for better days,” club president Rodolfo Landim explains in an email to Flamengo supporters. “Let us take care of our elderly and help those who need it most.”

New York’s 1.8m sqft (170,000m²) Javits Convention Center, one of the biggest event spaces in the US, is also being turned into a 1,000-bed hospital, with construction due to begin this week – as is the ExCeL Centre in east London, with Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) reportedly planning a 4,000-bed field hospital to cope with the peak of the pandemic in the UK.

Elsewhere in the UK, Welsh rugby club Scarlets says its 14,870-seat stadium, Scarlets Park (Parc y Scarlets), will become a 500-bed hospital, with nearby leisure centres also being used by NHS workers.

“Community has always been a huge part of what the Scarlets is about, and in unprecedented times like these communities stick together,” says Scarlets GM Jon Daniels. “The health service and workers are doing an incredible job in challenging circumstances and we are happy to be offering help and support in any way we can.”

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