Boston Venues
New investment in New England
BOSTON’ S KEY CONVENTION VENUES ARE UNDERGOING A MAJOR TRANSFORMATION PROJECT ON THE BACK OF 10 MONTHS OF RECORD- BREAKING EVENTS
T he financial and cultural
centre of New England and capital of Massachusetts, Boston is investing heavily in upgrades to its venue stock with a major accent on sustainability as the city aims to secure more international conference business long term.
The Boston Convention Marketing Center( BCMC) – a joint effort of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau to market the city’ s Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center( MCEC), the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, and The Lawn On D – is helping drive the strategy and also acts as a single point of contact for event requirement submissions, hotel room blocks, facility contracts and site visits.
BCMC executive director Milt Herbert, says:“ We have had 12 recordbreaking events in the past 10 months, largely supported by the international sector coming to Boston.” He says he has not seen any significant impact yet to business due to the new politics and tariffs, although remains“ somewhat concerned” that this could change.“ A couple of countries are not travelling to the US to any extent because of the political climate and we have ordered some items earlier to try to minimise the expectation of tariffs to be charged to us,” he adds.
While dealing with challenges, Herbert accentuates the positives:“ We continue to emphasise that Boston is a safe place for both events and their associated exhibitors and attendees to come to.”
Although there are no official subvention programmes in Boston, the CVB and venue teams do offer money-saving programmes and marketing support to assist customers, Herbert explains.
Sustainability is particularly important to the Boston venue offer.“ Recycling is a substantial programme. Food distribution to food banks is another. We also have numerous energy conservation items that are designed to reduce power consumption,” says Herbert.
The MCEC( formerly BCEC) was LEED Silver certified back in 2016 and today offers clients a choice on how they wish to recycle, as some want to go above and beyond city requirements.
Sorted waste is picked up by management partner Save That Stuff and the MCEC boasts a total waste diversion rate of 47 % and, over the past five years, Boston’ s Convention Centers have conserved over 7.74 million kWh via energy saving measures. A Central Control System controls all energy-consuming devices like lights, LCD digital screens, and even escalators. All meeting rooms in the MCEC and Hynes are equipped with sensor-controlled lights, which automatically shut off when there is no activity in the room.
Depending on the season, upwards of 75 % of food comes from local farms to the venues and larger events can produce 600 pounds of donatable food for charity projects.
Solar panels are to be installed at MCEC, and the Hynes Convention Center is undergoing $ 100m in upgrades which include new carpeting, windows, bathroom fixtures, and more.
All of the investments are guided by a strategic plan for the convention facilities, Herbert adds,“ with a substantial thought to expand to accommodate more international and domestic business, as we are currently operating at, arguably, maximum capacity without such a consideration.”
Located on the East Coast, Boston is very accessible by air and Boston’ s Convention Centers are also connected to a complimentary service on Silver Line buses that provide direct access from Boston Logan International Airport. n
ISSUE 138 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 47