London's first international convention centre is revealed

ICC London Excel will be London's first purpose-built large scale convention venue and is scheduled to open in May 2010.

The development is anticipated to significantly boost the capital's appeal to event planners from throughout the world.

Visit London interim chief executive Sally Chatterjee said: "Excel London has already proved to be of outstanding benefit to London's business tourism offer and its new status as the capital's first ICC will help towards bidding and winning more large conferences and association events in future."

She added that London sometimes "fell down on getting the package right for the people who make decisions on events" and the creation of ICC London Excel would help rectify that.

ICC London Excel is a £165m investment for parent company ADNEC and is anticipated to generate £1.6bn for the London economy by the end of 2011. The venue has bookings up until 2017, which include the British Association of Dermatologists Annual Meeting in July 2011 and the Annual Congress of the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons in September 2014.

Excel London chief executive Kevin Murphy said: "ICC London Excel is completely privately funded without the strain on the public purse."

Filmed interviews with Murphy and Chatterjee will be available on www.citmagazine.com tomorrow.

ICC London Excel in numbers:

• 32,000sqm of event space
• 4,500sqm semi-permanent auditorium with retractable seating for 5,000 delegates
• Additional event space for up to 2,000 delegates
• 65 meeting rooms
• 1,000 new jobs
• 2,225 car parking spaces
• 50% increase in Excel London's size, boosting the venue to almost 100,000sqm