The Palladium falls behind schedule

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The development of the new Dubai venue hits snags, forcing planned events to be relocated.

The development of Dubai’s new purpose-built entertainment facility, The Palladium, has been hit by further delays.

The venue, based in Media City and valued at US$32.6 million, was due to host its first two major events this month, Maroon 5 on December 10, and Sting in collaboration with Edin Karamazovon two days later.

Last September, Raymond Gasper, developer of The Palladium and general manager of International Communications and Entertainment (ICE) told Sound & Stage that “everything is on track for the venue’s opening in March 2008”.

But when S&S contacted Gasper recently, he confirmed that the development had run into problems and would not open its doors in time for the previously scheduled events.

“The venue’s surroundings are still very much in a construction phase because of the existing road works to construct the bridge being built over Sheikh Zayed Road, which makes it impossible for vehicles to reach the building at present,” confirmed Gasper.

As a result, Gasper said that Maroon 5 had been relocated to Dubai Festival City and would still be held on the scheduled date, but he said that Sting’s concert had been pushed back until mid 2009.

At the time of press, The Palladium had still not received its Building Completion Certificate, but Gasper said the “building is almost ready” and would be open for business in January.

“The first event we will be holding at The Palladium will be in January as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival,” he said.

Gaspar added that UK-based company TAO Group had been named as the consultants responsible for the venue’s technical fit-out, stewarding and medical appointments, traffic and pedestrian planning, occupational safety and would prepare technical specifications to ease the attendance of touring productions.

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