The extension includes a new 252-room Aloft Hotel at ExCeL London to be completed in time for London 2012 when the arena is due to host seven Olympic and six Paralympic sports.

The main focus of the extension will be to create a world-class international convention centre, including a 5,000-seater auditorium, a breakout area for 2,500 delegates and London's largest banqueting hall with a 3,000-seat capacity.

Additionally, exhibition space at ExCeL, the venue for leading exhibitions including World Travel Market and DSEi, has grown by 50 per cent, to 97,500 square metres to become one of Europe's largest exhibition centres.

Details of the plans were announced by Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan,chairman of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC), who brought ExCeL for £416 million ($626 million) in 2008.

Sheikh Sultan said: "ExCeL is a cornerstone for the development of the ADNEC brand, helping to open new trade links to the United Arab Emirates capital and promoting it to the world.

"Two years on from our investment in ExCeL, we have made considerable progress.

"The synergies we identified have been successfully leveraged. ExCeL has staged a number of global events including last year’s G20 summit."

Earlier this month ExCeL was officially granted planning permission for temporary structures to be built during the Games when it is due to stage boxing, fencing, judo, taekwondo, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling during the Olympics and boccia, judo, powerlifting, table tennis, sitting volleyball and wheelchair fencing during the Paralympics.


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June 2010: ExCeL given approval to stage London 2012 events