A rendering of International Convention Centre Sydney, to be completed in 2016.
Darling Harbour in Sydney is already one of the most popular destinations in Australia and, as of 2016, it will become a major player in the international convention industry. More than 25 million people each year visit attractions in the harbor, including the Harbourside Shopping Centre and the Australian National Maritime Museum. In 2011, the New South Wales Government set out to make the area more attractive to business travelers and large conventions and conferences with an enormous redevelopment project to be completed in 2016.
The NSW Government is partnering with a consortium including Lend Lease, Capella Capital, AEG Ogden, and Spotless Facilities Services in a public-private-partnership to build Darling Harbour Live. The new development will include convention component ICC Sydney, two-level exhibition halls, and an 8,000-capacity theater. There will be a 900-room hotel at the northern end of the site, and also a major retail and residential precinct in the south.
“The land is government owned, and our consortium has been given the rights to build, develop, and operate all of these facilities on government land,” said AEG Ogden Director of Convention Centres Geoff Donaghy, who will assume the role of CEO at ICC Sydney. The private consortium has the rights to operate it for 25 years.
CONCURRENT BUSINESS
The existing Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre opened more than 25 years ago.
“A key limitation of the current venue is its lack of versatile event spaces, which makes hosting simultaneous events difficult and, at times, impossible,” said Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of Business Events Sydney.
“Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the government agency that owns and manages Darling Harbour, reports that over the past five years, the existing facilities have been unable to accommodate about 27 international conventions, 142 national conventions and 12 exhibitions,” added Tim Parker, project director for the Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct at Infrastructure NSW.
With the new facilities, hosting concurrent events won’t be a problem.
Donaghy said that ICC Sydney will easily be able to accommodate three self-contained, independent conventions of 2,500 delegates, 1,000 delegates, and 750 delegates. There are three theaters of corresponding size within the new convention center, each contained in a section that includes corresponding meeting and breakout rooms.
There will be 430,556 sq. ft. of total exhibition space, including a 50,000-sq.-ft. event deck with views of the harbor and skyline.
PLANNING PROCESS
It will be business as usual in Darling Harbour until December, when the existing Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre will close.
A team of architects, including Populous, Hassell, and OMA, will design the redevelopment. Hassell was largely in charge of the master plan, with Populous taking lead on the detail design.
Construction of the new facilities will commence January 2014.
More than 80 percent of the events that were scheduled for Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre during the construction period have been rescheduled at other facilities in the area.
“Additionally, a purpose-built exhibition facility that will offer up to 25,000 sq. meters (about 269,000 sq. ft.) is being built to service Sydney’s valuable exhibition market,” added Lewis-Smith. Sydney Harbour Expo at Glebe Island will be open by December and will remain open until the completion of ICC Sydney.
BENEFITS
Currently, BESydney is handling booking enquiries for ICC Sydney.
“The International Bar Association Annual Meeting has already been confirmed for ICC Sydney in 2017,” said Lewis-Smith.
The consortium will take over booking in December.
Not only will the new development create more than 3,700 jobs during construction, but the facilities will provide ongoing employment for 4,000 and have a significant economic impact on the region.
“From AEG Ogden’s point of view, this is a very exciting addition to our family of venues in Australia, Asia, and the Middle East,” said Donaghy.
Interviewed for this story: Geoff Donaghy, +61 7 3331 5162; Lyn Lewis-Smith, +61 2 9332 5218; Tim Parker, +61 2 8016 0100