Convention intention

LISA Neville has dropped the biggest hint yet a convention centre will be built in Geelong, with the Bellarine MP saying yesterday there was “good news on the horizon”.

“There’s certainly some good news on the horizon when it comes to a Geelong convention centre with further details to come,” she said.

The Environment Minister said a convention centre based in Victoria’s second-largest city would complement existing facilities in Melbourne.

“Melbourne Convention Centre is used frequently for large conventions to smaller functions and there’s a demand for that type of venue in Geelong too,” Ms Neville

“The feedback we’ve rec- eived is that a convention centre for Geelong would attract visitors here that might otherwise stay in Melbourne, meaning extra business for restaurants and accommodation providers. We would expect the foreshore to play some sort of role in any future convention centre.”

In 2010, The City of Greater Geelong identified six potential sites for a convention cen- tre, including two in Eastern Park (at Limeburners Point and on Hearn Pde), two at Western Beach (Deakin University’s carpark and on the foreshore below Western Beach Rd), one on Mercer St and one on Corio St.

The long-running plan has already been the focus of two feasibility studies — one by Geelong Otway Tourism in 2005 that estimated the cost to build a convention centre would be $60-$80 million — and one by the City of Greater Geelong in 2008 that gave a cost of $180 million.

Lobby group G21 has long advocated for a proposed Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre with the capacity for 1000 delegates.

The centre would include 3000sq m of exhibition space, banqueting facilities, meeting rooms and a business centre.

The lobby group claims regional centres such as Townsville, Mackay, Cairns and Alice Springs have convention centres of comparable size to the Geelong proposal.

It is anticipated a Geelong convention centre would now cost more than $191 million with an expected completion date of 2020, if it were to be commissioned this year.