SCA-J Face to Face logistics - November 11th to 13th, Cardiff, UK

Hi,

I’ve started to pull together some logistics information for the Face to Face meeting in Cardiff. Hopefully, this will help with the planning of your trip.

Feel free to ask if anything is unclear or you need further information.

Thanks,

Mark

Meeting Location

The SCA-J Face 2 Face meeting will be hosted at the Avaya Offices in Cardiff, UK on Tuesday November 11^th to Thursday 13^th inclusive. The Avaya offices are on the north east corner of Cardiff, close to the M4 motorway (about 8 miles from the centre of Cardiff)

The address for the Avaya Cardiff office is:

Avaya,

Building 3,

The Eastern Business Park,

Wern Fawr Lane,

St. Mellons,

Cardiff,

CF3 5EA

I am provisionally proposing that we start at 09:00 each day.

I’ll provide details on how to get on-site, where to park, etc nearer the time.

Travel:

By Air:

Depending on where you are flying from it may be easier to fly into one of the London airports. However, there are two local airports to Cardiff that may be worth considering. These are:

Cardiff International Airport (CWL)

http://info.cwlfly.com/en/

Approx 14 miles to the south west of Cardiff and 20 miles from the Avaya Cardiff Office

Bristol International Airport (BRS)

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/

Approx 45 miles from the Avaya Cardiff Office

By Road:

The Avaya offices in Cardiff are a few miles from Junction 30 of the M4 motorway.

Directions

Follow the M4. At Junction 30, exit on to the A4232
After 0.5 miles on A4232, go straight across the roundabout (2^ndexit) keeping on the A4232
After 0.5 miles on A4232, take first left (using filter lane) onto the A48(M)
Take first exit off A48(M) (after 0.5 miles)
At the roundabout, take the 3^rd exit onto B4487/Newport Road
After 0.2 miles, turn right at the traffic lights onto Wern Fawr Lane
Take second turning on right onto Eastern Business Park and report to the security lodge to gain access to the site.

The section of the M4 from Newport to Cardiff gets very busy in the morning so expect some delays. They are also doing some major road works to widen the M4 between Junctions 29 and 32. As a result, this section is often heavily congested during rush hour.

If you are driving into Wales from England along the M4, you will cross over the Second Severn Crossing Toll Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Severn_Crossing). The current cost of the toll is £5.30 per car. The toll is only paid when going west (i.e. from England to Wales) but not in the opposite direction.

NOTE: The toll can only be paid in cash – they do not accept credit/debit cards or cheques.

By Rail:

The nearest railway stations are:

Cardiff Central Railway Station (6 miles)

Newport Railway Station (9 miles)

Hiring a car or using a Taxi is the best way to get from either railway station to the Avaya offices.

Hotels:

Since I live in Cardiff, I have not used any of these hotels so I am unable to provide reviews of the hotels in the area. I’ve listed a few hotels below that are in the Cardiff area in no particular order.

The following hotels are close to the Avaya offices

IBIS Hotel, Cardiff (at M4 Junction 30)

http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-3159-ibis-cardiff-gate/index.shtml

Park Inn Cardiff Northý

http://www.cardiff.parkinn.co.uk/

Best Western St Mellons Hotel

http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?propertyCode=83508

The following hotels are in the centre of Cardiff (approx 8 miles from the Avaya offices)

Park Plaza, Cardiff

http://www.parkplaza.com/cardiffuk

Hilton Hotel, Cardiff

http://www.hilton.co.uk/cardiff

Evening Meals:

As with other previous Face to Face meetings, I’ll plan to organise going out as a group for evening meals. I would be interested to know if people would be interested in this and whether anyone has any specific dietary requirements that I need to consider.

Possible candidate restaurants include the following:

Junction 28

http://www.junction28.com/

Juboraj (Indian Restaurant)

http://www.juborajgroup.com/lakeside.html

Armless Dragon

http://www.armlessdragon.co.uk/english.html

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