F1 Pit Building is a roaring success

Source : Straits Times - 27 Apr 2009

As an events venue, it is the pits. But in a good way.

Life! is talking about the hottest new party and events centre in town - the $40-million, three-storey Formula One (F1) Pit Building located at the end of Marina Bay.

It was in the spotlight as the place to be when the famous racing car circuit came to town last September.

Some had wondered if the distinctive white building would become a white elephant once the F1 show left town, but that is far from the case.

In fact, the building and racetrack in the centre of the city is in pole position as an events venue in the F1 off season and has hosted anything from a car launch to to a bazaar sale.

Yes, in the same rooms where executives sipped champagne and wine as they caught the F1 action unfolding before them, hundreds of bargain-hunting fashionistas hunted for marked-down designer togs at the Club 21 sale last year.

Event organisers cite the uniqueness, accessibility and the space of the building, which sits on a 20,392 sq m plot of land - the size of more than five football fields - as the main draws.

With a bus-stop in front of the nearby Singapore Flyer and ample parking space, the complex is also easy to get to.

It belongs to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and is managed by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) while the track, from Turn 20 to Turn 3, comes under the purview of National Parks Board and the Land Transport Authority.

Another plus is the reasonable rental. Rates range between $1,700 and $2,300 a day.

During the non-race periods, 13 areas - of between 1,100 and 1,468 sq m - are available for rent, including nine areas on the two upper floors of the year-old building and four garages on the ground level.

Not just the old pits and upper floors are a roaring success.

The F1 race-track in front of the Pit Building has also left a legacy beyond oil stains.

It has been the scene of other sporting action: Two-wheeled bicycles rather than four-wheeled motors took to the tarmac in the OCBC Cycle Singapore race in February.

The track and Pit Building have also served as the last leg and finishing point of the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge marathon two weeks ago, just a day before the building rocked to the beat of the Heineken Green Room party, the beer company’s music event.

Later this week, the F1 track hosts Beerfest Asia 2009, incorporating a dance party called Mayfair, where guest DJs from Britain will be performing.

Next month, extreme sports fans will flock to the same venue as energy drink Red Bull presents the X-Fighters Exhibition Tour, in which freestyle motocross riders will perform daredevil tricks on their motorcycles.

A Red Bull spokesman says: ‘Having the event on the track right smack in the heart of the city means that it is easily accessible to the public and is expected to see a better turnout, compared to having it in Tuas or Loyang.”

Ms Low Seow Yee, music and marketing manager for Ublues Group, which is organising Beerfest Asia 2009, agrees: ‘It’s a new venue not many people have used. Fort Canning Park is tried and tested. The F1 site faces the Flyer, Marina Barrage and the Singapore skyline. It’s the perfect place for Beerfest’.

As Mr David Lim, Heineken Singapore’s senior brand manager, puts it: ‘There are a number of excellent clubs in Singapore, all of which provide a unique experience of their own.

‘The F1 Pit Building, though, allowed us to create something unique and unexpected, by transforming an iconic venue into a garage party such as our Heineken Green Room event.’

Listing the Pit Building’s plus points, the Singapore Tourism Board director, F1 Project, Mr Leong Yue Kheong, says: ‘Easily accessible to Singapore’s CBD area and the Suntec-Marina Centre, it is a unique venue with a scenic waterfront and unobstructed views of Marina Bay.’

While temporary accommodation, concerts and exhibitions are permissible, funerals, industrial use and religious worship are not allowed under the board’s rental guidelines.

People who have attended events there give it the chequered flag.

Equity analyst Chua S.B., 29, who attended the Heineken event, found the location exciting: ‘I don’t think many events have been held there before because it’s meant for the F1. It was an all-round awesome place.’