ADELAIDE REVAMP SET TO OPEN

FINAL touches are being put in place at the Adelaide Convention Centre as it prepares to reveal the results of a nine-year $397m redevelopment.

Set to open in Aug, the venue’s latest expansion has already helped secure 15 conferences exceeding 1,000 delegates, to be held in 2018.

Adelaide Convention Centre chief executive Alec Gilbert said with the facility celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the completed project had set the venue up to win a bigger slice of the business events market.

“The redevelopment will certainly go a long way in positioning Adelaide as an even more competitive player when it comes to attracting major global conferences and exhibitions,” he said.

The first major conference set for the fully expanded Centre is the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which is scheduled for Sep.

It will bring 3,000 delegates to the city and will be the largest conference ever to be held in the SA capital.

“The expanded Centre enables the venue to host much larger conferences, and is expected to deliver an additional $1.92 billion in economic benefit to the state,” Gilbert said.

After the West Building opened in 2015, the East Building’s focus is on technology, and in particular, installation of the world’s largest rotating seat drums.

The venue will host an opening gala on 30 Aug for the industry and key figures to celebrate the occasion.

Since 1987, the venue has hosted over 1,800 events, welcomed more than six million delegates and delivered over $1.4b in economic benefit.