Edinburgh International Conference Centre applauds recurring role in spotlight as Festival venue

The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has opened its doors to the city’s Festival for the 20th time, expecting to welcome more than 80,000 visitors over the course of August this year.

Events on the EICC agenda this year include headline act Dark Noon. Picture: Duncan McGlynn.

The venue is hosting Pleasance at the EICC, Venue 150 of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, along with the Edinburgh TV Festival later in the month.

The EICC is hosting a full line-up of events in 2023 for the second straight year after pandemic-related restrictions, with headline act Dark Noon, a drama from award-winning Danish director Tue Biering and co-director Nhlanhla Mahlangu, Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera], and Trainspotting Live on the programme. Also on the agenda is a series of Iain Dale: All Talk events, with Jeremy Corbyn, Penny Mordaunt, Harriet Harman, and Alex Salmond featuring alongside a number of other shows.

EICC chief executive Marshall Dallas said: “It’s brilliant to welcome the Edinburgh Festival Fringe back at the venue this month, and it’s incredible to think we have now hosted Festival-related events for two decades. Arts and culture are absolutely ingrained in this city, and we are really proud to be a part of that.”

The venue added that its catering provider Leith is providing street foods and drinks again this year, with a focus on provenance and sustainability, served in packaging by start-up Notpla that uses products made from seaweed instead of plastic.

Dallas added: “We are always looking at ways to bring more sustainability into our overall offering, and we’ve been impressed with the Notpla team, a start-up who have gained global recognition for their commitment to the sustainable practices and the environment.”

The Edinburgh TV Festival runs at the EICC from August 22 to 25, with more than 2,000 senior leaders and executives from the industry expected to be in attendance, and featured talks and sessions including presenter Louis Theroux, who will be delivering The MacTaggart Lecture 2023, and Universal Studio Group chair Pearlena Igbokwe.

The EICC, which has teamed up with hotel giant Hyatt to create a 350-bedroom property in Edinburgh’s Haymarket set to open in 2025, in June hosted Turing Fest, while earlier this year it reported that it increased revenue by 45 per cent to £11.8 million in 2022, with Dallas at the time saying the figures told “a post-pandemic rebound story”.