A first look at NZ’s biggest convention centre
It’s more than a year from completion but New Zealand’s largest convention centre has already chewed through enough steel and concrete to build 12 Sky Towers.
The New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) will be five times larger than its next largest rival when it is completed at the end of next year.
Twenty conferences have already been confirmed for the convention centre – a multilevel structure in Hobson St in Auckland’s CBD – despite a corporate stoush earlier in the year between construction firm Fletcher Building and SkyCity over construction delays.
Commissioned in 2015, it was identified as a major contributor to Fletcher Building’s $660 million loss across its Building and Interiors division this year.
A NZICC update revealed work was underway on the theatre, loading dock, kitchens, offices and changing rooms at the site.
At a Future Auckland event last month, Warren and Mahoney architect Richard Archbold, the architect behind the centre, touted the theatre in the complex as ‘‘New Zealand’s largest room’’.
The base for 2850 seats in the cavernous theatre is currently under construction. When completed, it will take up a major chunk of 32,500 square metres of total floor space.
Construction work at the NZICC has so far used more than 173,000 cubic metres of concrete, 7300 tonnes of structural steel, 330 tonnes of secondary steel and 17,000 litres of paint.
A hotel beside the convention centre is also under construction, with 1000 tonnes of steel, 300 tonnes of reinforcing steel and 2300 cubic metres of concrete already used.
Concrete floors have been poured for 12 floors of the hotel, while six floors have been fitted with electrical work, plumbing and airconditioning services.
Fletcher Building previously said it was on track to complete the $703m project by July 2019 but was later forced to push that back to December 2019.
In September, the SkyCity group said it was withholding $26.9m from the construction company due to delays on the project.