Local suppliers to keep Nyaal Banyul running

MORE than 50 local businesses will help power the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre when it opens next month, supplying everything from fresh produce and beverages to equipment and event services.

For many of those businesses, the partnership represents a significant opportunity to grow alongside one of the region’s largest new tourism and events assets.

One of those suppliers is Geelong Access Hire, which will have six machines permanently based at the centre to support event bump-ins and bump-outs.

Director Chris Carney said the Nyaal Banyul contract was by far the biggest his company had taken on.

Geelong Access Hire director Chris Carney. Photo: James Taylor.

“If you’d have told me six years ago I’d be stood here right now, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.

“We’re just over six years old as a business, so to be involved in something like this is incredible for us.

“It gives us an opportunity as well. We’re very big on putting back into the community and sporting and charity events local to Geelong so being a part of this helps us reinvest back into the community.”

The company has worked closely with Nyaal Banyul’s operators to determine the equipment requirements for the venue’s first events, while Geelong Access Hire’s North Geelong depot allows additional machinery to be delivered to the site at short notice.

Other local suppliers include Lonsdale Tomato Farm, Otway Pork, genU, Adelia Fine Foods and Mt Moriac Olives, alongside 28 wineries, breweries and beverage producers.

From wineries and food producers to equipment hire companies, local operators have been selected to support Nyaal Banyul’s day-to-day operations and major events. Photo: James Taylor.

The focus on local suppliers forms part of the centre’s broader commitment to delivering economic benefits across the Geelong region.

Nyaal Banyul general manager Rick Aylett said there were logistic advantages in using as many local companies as possible to support the centre’s operations.

“It’s one of the core principles of the project: the economic contribution,” he said.

“There’s job creation, the local ecosystem and the supply chain for local suppliers, which has a great flow-on effect and impact.”

Nyaal Banyul will open on 1 July, with its first event to take place on 3 July.