DIJON: Heated debates before awarding the Parc des Expositions delegation to GL Events
As voted by the city council, this Monday, December 5, the giant GL Events associated with the CCI will operate the Exhibition Center from next January.
Laurent Bourguignat castigated “a political file”. “Competent local actors will be sacrificed for the benefit of large external groups”, regretted Emmanuel Bichot. François Rebsamen announced the reconstruction of Hall 1 “in line with current energy performance standards”.
The mayor of Dijon being able to count on his majority, the opposition had polished up his arguments for the beauty of the gesture and the democratic debate even if certain remarks were supported in order to make the elected representatives of the said majority hesitate in the face of certain unknowns of the equation.
A call for tenders, two candidates, a delegate but also a renovation project which will only be presented next year. In the end, this Monday, December 5, 2022, the consortium formed by GL Events and the CCI Métropole de Bourgogne Côte-d’Or Saône-et-Loire won by a large majority the public service delegation for the operation of the Exhibition Center and the Palais des Congrès of the City of Dijon.
A group made up of GL Events and the CCI
The CCI Métropole de Bourgogne Côte-d’or Saône-et-Loire – the name discreetly changed during the autumn to include the two departments in the logo of the consular chamber – was formed in November 2021, resulting from the mergers of the chambers commerce and industry of the Côte-d’Or and the Saône-et-Loire.
GL Events is an events giant present in 25 countries with 50 sites including 32 in France. Capitalization reached 628 million euros in 2020, turnover 741.2 million euros in 2021.
To apply, GL Events and the CCI concocted a new company by providing respectively 80% and 20% of the capital of 100,000 euros.
Seen as “a delegation of transition”, the duration was set at five years. The current employees of Dijon Congrexpo could become employees of the new delegate.
In particular, the role of the CCI will be to contribute to the definition of the strategy for the development of activities, to get involved in hosting seminars, to watch over the expectations of professionals and to carry out sourcing of stakeholders.
After validation of the applications and a negotiation phase conducted by the departments, the two offers were put into competition. The offer from GL Events and the CCI was accepted and submitted to the vote of the municipal council.
Reconstruction of hall 1 on the current site
The main unknown lies in the building aspects. François Rebsamen announced that Hall 1 of the Exhibition Center would be completely rebuilt on site. After having assumed a budget of 12 million euros, the cost of the reconstruction is now assumed at 42 million euros, an “indicative” amount which will be refined according to the studies.
A program authorization for the work to be carried out should be presented to elected municipal officials during the first half of 2023. The construction site could last until 2025.
“A new era for the Dijon destination”, according to François Rebsamen
Taking the floor to launch the examination of the report in the municipal council, François Rebsamen outlines the issues related to the call for tenders and the new delegation: “attracting more events to Dijon, strengthening business tourism in an increased competitive context, diversify the programming but also renovate the equipment by building a new hall in place of hall number 1”.
“The potential of the equipment is not used up to the ambition of attractiveness and influence of the City and the Metropolis”, indicates the mayor about the observations made when launching the call for ‘ offers mainly counting events for the general public such as the Foire de Dijon, the home show, Auto Moto Rétro and Aging well in Côte-d’Or. “The programming offered for many years has finally changed very little over time”, he summarizes, therefore calling for a “renewal”.
Concerning the renovation of the site, “it is a question of restoring coherence with a quality of space and development” and of “finally bringing it up to energy performance standards”. Rebuilt, Hall 1 will become “a building in line with current construction, market and energy performance standards”.
Incidentally, François Rebsamen points out that local authorities have recently invested in having their respective exhibition centers assessed, mobilizing, for example, an envelope of 80 million euros in Reims, 150 million euros in Orléans or even 311 million euros. In Toulouse. “We have to move,” he comments.
“The renovation works of the [parc des expositions] will mark the start of a new era for the Dijon destination. (…) It is about a new local, national and international cooperation and to offer a visibility which is reinforced by the force of this network, that of GL Events”, indicates François Rebsamen.
“It is proposed to us to retain the candidate who commits to the lowest attendance figures”, slips Laurent Bourguignat
“We are dealing here with a political file, their report which presents the reasons for the choice of the candidate is a dependent report”, immediately launches Laurent Bourguignat (LR) to set the tone of his intervention. “The attribution of the marks to the candidates is sometimes surprising and, in truth, not very substantiated”.
The call for tenders took place in a context of growing tensions between the City of Dijon and the current delegate, the Dijon Congrexpo association, a fortiori between the mayor François Rebsamen and the president of the association Jean Battault. Tensions peaked during the 2021 edition of the Dijon Fair where François Rebsamen had not been invited to the inauguration.
At the same time, Dijon Congrexpo had brought a civil action in a defamation lawsuit brought by Yves Bruneau against François Rebsamen. Now retired, Yves Bruneau had been the general manager of Dijon Congrexpo after having been the chief of staff of the mayor of Dijon Robert Poujade (RPR), in office from 1971 to 2001. In September 2020, François Rebsamen had raised the subject the CEO’s salary. He was released from this grief last July (read our article).
“Paradoxically, it is proposed to us to retain the candidate who commits to the lowest attendance figures”, slips Laurent Bourguignat.
According to the opponent, GL Events announces 991,000 visitors in five years through 125 events against 1.2 million visitors in 168 events for Dijon Congrexpo. GL Events is planning an increase in location fees for exhibitors. The fee paid to the City of Dijon by GL Events is announced at 20,000 euros per year for the years from 2023 to 2025, “very far” from the current annual fee of 300,000 euros paid by Dijon Congrexpo.
“It is a pity that a conflict of people results in entrusting such strategic equipment as our Palais des Congrès, our Parc des Expositions to a large national group which intends to make Dijon an additional base in what it calls its portfolio of rotating fairs”, analyzes Laurent Bourguignat who prefers to defend “the model of an association made up of business leaders” being “less focused on profit and more focused on the territory”.
Proposal for a parking silo along the railway line
Regarding the renovation of hall 1, the opponent says he is “surprised that such a strategic and substantial investment has not been the subject of a presentation and a vote in the municipal council, it is up to the elected officials to decide of the future of equipment”.
The group otherwise Dijon calls for “a broader and long-term reflection which must include the whole district and even the land along the railway line which could accommodate a parking silo”.
“You deeply question all those who carried out this expert work, who are very respectable people and I consider it quite serious to say that they made a political report against them” , reacts François Rebsamen.
“We go from improvisation to messing up”, adds Emmanuel Bichot
“The management of this file is still inconsistent, we are going from improvisation to confusion”, adds Emmanuel Bichot (LR) by asking that “the deliberation be withdrawn”. “We take care that the competences of our assembly are not respected and that the proposed contract is not viable. »
The opponent regrets not knowing “the characteristics” of the equipment once renovated: “the project to renovate the Exhibition Center is not yet complete. (…) We have therefore decided this evening on the point of making a major legal commitment of at least 42 million euros excluding tax on the basis of a project which is not even presented in the deliberation”.
“This degree of unpreparedness is astounding when it comes to equipment that you no longer maintain since your election in 2001 and which we have known for years that it is dilapidated at the end of its life”, comments Emmanuel Bichot who judges that “competent local actors will be sacrificed for the benefit of large external groups”.
Axel Sibert considers the offer of GL Events and the CCI “interesting financially”
“The two proposals received are of high quality and make it possible to consider the new contract positively”, considers for his part the independent opponent Axel Sibert (LR). “The offer provided by GL Events – the French event flagship – is attractive both financially and in terms of activity.”
Creation of a congress office
Among the majority, Jean-Philippe Morel (PR), castigates the “caricatural indictments” of opponents who have spoken previously. The elected official underlines that the contract guarantees a “regular organization” of the International and Gastronomic Fair of Dijon: “we have the will to maintain its identity”. Jean-Philippe Morel announces that the delegate will work in synergy with the International City of Gastronomy and Wine.
Municipal elected official and president of the metropolitan tourist office, Sladana Zivkovic (PS) announces the creation of a future convention office which will work with the new delegate to support the organizers, “strengths which make Dijon a benchmark in terms of international”.
The socialist regrets that the tourist office is not represented on the board of directors of Dijon Congrexpo.
“The Fair received”, assures François Rebsamen
“You picked up elements to try to make people believe in a political arrangement that absolutely wanted to eliminate [Dijon] Congrexpo”, replies François Rebsamen, addressing Laurent Bourguignat. “Of all the 32 French sites, they have never had recourse – if once – to a national caterer,” he insists.
“There is continuity of service. It is a municipal service. It is the City which owns the equipment and which also owns the Dijon Fair, it is not the delegate, ”insists the mayor. “The Fair recognized even if it will be disrupted for the duration of the works.”
And to add: “Today, the choice is less to know who is the delegate of the city than to develop economic activity and ensure the growth of business tourism. We are convinced that this equipment – where it is – has the potential to host more events linked to the economic fabric, more national or even international congresses”.
At the time of the vote, the choice of the grouping of GL Events and the CCI was approved by 48 votes in favor – including that of the independent opponent Stéphane Chevalier (various right) – against 4 abstentions among the opponents – three Greens and one independent Axel Sibert (LR) – and 7 votes against – the members of the opposition groups Agir pour Dijon and Dijon differently.
Asked, the Dijon Congrexpo association did not wish to comment on the choice of the City of Dijon.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon