Unique Events and Assembly sign up for five more years of winter festivals
The existing organisers of Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals will be kept in charge of the city’s winter events for up to five more years under a new multi-million pound contract expected to be agreed within days.
Unique Events, who have been involved with the new year festival since its launch in 1993, and Assembly, who have been running Fringe venues for more than 40 years, are expected to secure a joint city council contract to produce the two events.
The two companies formed a new consortium in 2022 that won the right to stage the Hogmanay festival. They were then brought in at short notice to take on the running of the Christmas festival after the collapse of a contract with a Germanled consortium less than two months before the event was due to get underway.
Under the proposed contract expected to be approved next week, Unique and Assembly would secure annual funding of £812,456 to deliver the Hogmanay festival until 2026/27, with the possibility of the deal being extended for a further two years. However, the two firms are expected to pay up to £1.5 million to rent key sites over the next five years, depending on how many are approved by the council for the two festivals.
Unique and Assembly were given a one-off contract to deliver the most recent
Christmas festival and still have one year left on the existing Hogmanay contract. The two events are said to have a combined economic impact of more than £150m.
An overall attendance of more than three million was recorded for the most recent Christmas festival, which was mainly focused on Princes Street Gardens, St Andrew Square and George Street. More than 80,000 people were said to have attended last year's Hogmanay festival, which was staged across four days.
When the council instigated a new tendering process in August, the authority said that it was seeking proposals to “provide a high-quality offering and maintain the city’s Christmas and Hogmanay festival status as a world-class event that promotes the city internationally”.
It insisted the Hogmanay festival should retain a torchlight procession, live music and a “significant midnight moment”, but also called for proposals to expand the Christmas festivals, including in “town centres” out-with the city centre.
A statement from the Unique-Asssembly consortium said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to continue producing Edinburgh's Christmas and Hogmanay over the coming years, and couldn't be more excited about delivering these important events for the city.
“Having rescued Edinburgh’s Christmas in recent years and delivered a hugely successful Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 30th-anniversary festival, we will be announcing exciting new plans for this winter in due course, which will see our continued development of the much-loved events programme.”
City council leader Cammy Day said: “Edinburgh’s winter festivals contribute significantly to the enjoyment and wellbeing of our residents, providing activities for all ages and incomes to enjoy during the festive season. The events also bring huge economic benefits for the city and for Scotland as a whole, supporting jobs in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors.”
The two firms are expected to pay up to £1.5m to rent key sites over the next five years