Opened in 2001 and winner of the “Excellency in innovation and Architecture Quality Prize” and “Best Tourism Development”, the Estoril Congress Center (ECC) is located on a very prominent tourist site known as the Estoril Coast, next to the famous Casino, granted with the surrounding gardens and sea views.
The main purposes for its design were specialized meeting facility areas with high flexibility usage in order to create an additional focus of economic growth and tourist development in the Estoril region.
It also provides a service of offsetting unavoidable emissions through a trusted and accredited partner to ensure your event is entirely Carbon Zero
The building cannot be seen from a distance, but the palm tree-lined avenue leading up to it, enhances the approach and, once close up, the visitor's interest is then aroused by the building's interiors. The transparent envelope also enables visitors inside to look out onto the surrounding greenery and makes interior spaces seem larger, particularly the entrance atrium, the exhibition hall and the area around the auditorium.
The Hall is directly linked to the lobby, but can be separated using low panels or a complete vertical wall, giving it great usage flexibility for conferences up to 1000 attendees, while the auditorium is perfect for conferences or presentations with up to 600 delegates.
PORTUGAL’S EXCLUSIVE GREEN VENUE
Augmented with heightened energy efficiency and waste control, the building has a high commitment to its Sustainable Business and Services policy. In fact, ECC has achieved the prestigious Green Globe Benchmarked status under the globally recognised Benchmarking programme.
This program recognises Estoril Congress Centre’s commitment to operating at the world’s highest environmental standard, with international positioning by comparing results to other international meeting facilities.
ECC has committed Estoril region’s business partners, and unified the whole region to work together towards better sustainable practices, more sustainable products and services, thus extending our offer as a Sustainable Destination for Business Tourism.
In fact, by taking advantage of its existing green facilities and programs, the ECC is an ideal venue for hosting a green event. Some of its best practices and building features already in place include:
- A long-standing and extensive recycling program;
- Energy management systems to control and reduce energy consumption;
- The offer of zero-carbon events in collaboration with clients and their suppliers;
- The use of eco-certified products (cleaning products, recycled paper, etc.);
- The offer of freshly-prepared meals using locally grown and produced products;
- Staff trained in green meeting plans and procedures;
- The offer of local social responsibility actions, wellness activities and health-safety programs.
ECC has been recognized for its effort to incorporate an innovative sustainability policy and has been presented with the following SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS:
2007 – Foremost European Venue – EIBTM
2008 – Europe’s best case-study in Sustainable Strategy for Business Tourism – IMEX
Leadership in Sustainable Business Tourism - AMFORHT
2009 – Environmental Sustainability (Honorable Mention) - Tourism of Portugal
Green Exhibition Award - IMEX
Best Venue – Event Gala
2010 – Event Sustainability (Honorable Mention) – Event Gala
THE GREEN FUND PROGRAM
A recent innovation that affirms ECC’s leadership in the sustainable meeting industry is the establishment of the Estoril Green Fund Programme. It offers clients and event planners a fund, which is worth up to 1% of the cost to hire the venue’s event space, to spend on ECC’s green services. The fund therefore encourages the investment and efforts in minimising environmental impacts during the event.
Through its unique services and programs: Green Events, Wellness programs, Safe programs, CSR Programs, Carbon Zero Events, Mobile program it is now possible to elevate the quality of events according to sustainable guidelines and corporate responsible objectives while still hosting a world-class meeting within budget.
Hosting green meetings don’t involve complex procedures or additional costs either. The ECC’s team of highly competent staff offers clear guidance and a variety of programs to ensure the meetings comply with sustainable principles. It also provides a service of offsetting unavoidable emissions through a trusted and accredited partner to ensure your event is entirely Carbon Zero.
The ECC was also the first and only Congress Centre in Portugal to launch an application for smartphones which can be downloaded free. This development is in line with ECC’s commitment to develop a more sustainable business model allowing more personalized one-2-one communication in tune with the nationality of the individual user.
THE ESTORIL COAST
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west, the Estoril Coast is only 30 kilometers from Lisbon.
Known as a beautiful fishing town surrounded by nature and historic settings, the Estoril Coast offers a variety of products and services that explore the local attractions through sustainable practices. Free bicycle rentals are available all year long, a coast promenade was renovated and extended 6 kms, recycle-bins and recycle centers are located in every corner, beaches and parks are kept clean year-round, cultural, sports incentive and social events are open to public participation, national park trails were created, local wildlife information available in national park trails and coast promenade, sports activities and tours are a growing offer for locals and tourists, the electric powered Segways are available for rental in town center, landscape buildings with historic significance renovated..
ACCOMODATION AND GOLF
The Estoril Coast in its diverse offer, also provides visitors with accommodation infrastructures and services within the highest standards. With a continuous growing offer in accommodations, Estoril holds a total of 10 five-star hotels, 15 four-star hotels and around 8 high quality three-star hotels, within a 6 kms radius from Congress Center and and there are no less than seven championship courses dotted around Estoril.
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