Convention centre competition hots up
As meetings and conferences attract international visitors and inject billions into local economies, a state-of-the-art convention centre can become a city’s competitive advantage.
According to Ibis World, Australia’s exhibition and conference centres industry has performed well over the past five years, as business conditions remain strong.
Ibis World estimates that the convention industry’s revenue over the five years to 30 June will reach $11.3 billion, growing by an annualised 2.9 per cent.
This includes an expected 3.2 per cent rise this financial year as growth in business tourist nights boosts industry demand.
Australia’s cities are responding to this growth. Sydney has opened its new landmark at Darling Harbour, Adelaide has doubled its capacity and Melbourne has unveiled upgrade plans. Lobbying is underway in Perth, Cairns and Canberra, while Brisbane remains strong after two decades.
In Sydney, the new International Convention Centre is expected to bring in $5 billion in economic benefit over the next 25 years.
The $1.5 billion complex, designed by Hassell and Populous, opened in December. The 2,000 sqm development features the largest exhibition space in Australia equivalent to 26 Olympic swimming pools. It also has Australia’s largest ballroom, and can accommodate 3,0 guests at a time.
The design, which maximises views of Darling Harbour, brings the destination into the convention space, and reflects the trend for visitors looking for authentic city experiences.
“Convention and exhibition buildings have a tendency to be introverted by their very nature, but we worked to ensure that the line between the outside and the inside was blurred – so visitors coming to any of the venues could engage with the natural and built beauty of this city,” says senior principal and joint architecture director at Populous, Richard Breslin.
Down south, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, which opened in 2009, generates around $960 million for the state economy every year. But this is predicted to rise to $1.5 billion by 2026.
A new $305 million redevelopment of the centre will bring the facility’s total size to more than 70,000 sqm. The upgrade will also include a 331-room hotel and multi-deck carpark.
The Victorian Government is providing $205 million for the expansion, while infrastructure investor and manager Plenary Group and its partners will fork out $100 million.
Chief executive Peter King has said the MCEC has “listened carefully to our customers” and is looking to upgrade the centre to provide “greater choice of meeting rooms” with a design that is “adaptable but inspiring spaces so we can provide more of what our customers need”.
The expansion, which will be finished in 2018, is expected to attract an extra 74,000 international visitors to the centre each year.
Adelaide Convention Centre is also undergoing an upgrade, and will be home to the world’s largest rotating seating drums when the new East Building opens later this year.
The two 18 metre revolving drums, which each accommodate seating for 320 people, can rotate 180 degrees in just minutes to reconfigure conference space.
The East Building will also feature a new auditorium with hinged seating stored in the roof space, which can be lowered to convert exhibition space into lecture theatre space.
Despite being 21 years old this June, the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre continues to gain international awards and applause. Hosting more than 18,000 events over its lifetime, the centre has attracted 14 million visitors deliverings $3.87 billion in economic benefit to Queensland. Future bookings for the next decade number more than 1,300, with an economic value estimated to be around $1 billion.
In Cairns, a proposed $140 million expansion has been named a top tourism priority for the region. The 20-year-old centre injects around $80 million into the local economy every year, but construction of another hall and additional exhibition space is needed to accommodate growth. Cairns Mayor Bob Manning says the centre, which will play host to The Property Congress in October, “is one of the main drivers of our city and tourism industry”.
In Perth, Tourism Council WA is pushing hard for the city’s convention centre to undergo an overhaul.
The state’s top tourism body says the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre must grow by at least 60 per cent, or Western Australia risks falling behind its eastern counterparts in the fierce competition for international events.
The centre, built in 2004, is among the nation’s oldest major convention centres and Tourism WA says it has reached capacity. Expanding the site from its current 16,400 sqm by 10,000 sqm would attract 17 new events each year, and with it 22,000 delegates who would spend $34.8 million in the local economy.
Meanwhile, the future of Canberra’s new national convention centre isn’t looking so secure.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says his government will abandon plans for the ‘Australia Forum’ to be built on City Hill unless the federal government makes a sizeable contribution.
The ACT Government will provide the site on London Circuit and the money made from selling the existing convention centre for redevelopment, but Barr wants federal funding as part of a City Deal for Canberra.
The ACT Government estimates the project to cost close to $900 million. A rapid business case, developed in 2015, found the convention centre would bring benefits of $2.40 for every $1 spent. But that was at a cost of $433 million.
Barr has said the ACT will not enter “an arms race with Sydney and Melbourne for the biggest convention centre in the nation”, but it looks like there will be stiff competition from other Australian cities too.