Green light for new convention centre
Construction of a revised $179 million convention centre for Wellington has been given the goahead.
Wellington City councillors voted unanimously to progress convention centre plans for the capital at a meeting yesterday, ending a five-year planning process beset by problems.
A joint venture between Sir Peter Jackson and Wellington City Council failed earlier this year. The parties fell out over plans to combine a movie museum with a convention centre.
The renewed plans will see an 18,000-square-metre complex – suitable for hosting exhibitions and multi-day conventions for up to 1500 people – built between Cable and Wakefield streets, across the road from Te Papa.
The facility will feature 10,000sqm of dedicated convention space spread across its top two floors, with a 1650sqm ground-floor exhibition gallery to accommodate touring exhibitions.
Councillors also passed an amendment to ensure the convention centre was rated a fivestar NZ Greenstar building.
A detailed design will now be produced by the end of March 2019, with a opening date pegged for 2022.
It is hoped to cost ratepayers $154m, with the council banking on an additional $25m in government funding. Ongoing operating costs are expected to be $45.6m over 10 years.
Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said the unanimous vote was ‘‘remarkable’’ and came after strong support from Wellingtonians and local business.
‘‘We’re going to get on and build in the middle of next year, and I’m really excited to be moving along with this project.’’
The Government had previously indicated a willingness to provide the $25m, he said.
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency general manager David Perks said the agency had already fielded booking requests.
‘‘We’ve started taking sort of pencil-ish bookings, but from today we’ll be a lot more certain about that.’’
At the meeting, many councillors gave fulsome speeches detailing how the project would bolster the city, akin to Westpac Stadium and Te Papa.
Concerns about the viability of economic projections and of convention attendees generating carbon emissions were washed away by aspirations driving the proposal.
Councillor Andy Foster said the council had neglected to evaluate the required size of the convention centre after the joint venture failed.
‘‘It’s almost double the size of the previous convention centre . . . I’m not convinced by the size.’’
Yet the city had to be in the convention business, he said.
‘‘We’re going into it with our eyes open, this is a risky business.’’
Councillor Diane Calvert said her concerns about the centre’s size had been assuaged.
‘‘Whilst some of the projections might be challenging, we shouldn’t necessarily shy away from it.’’
Councillor Sarah Free said it was important to put ‘‘faith’’ in the proposal. ‘‘The numbers on their own can’t say it all.
‘‘This isn’t so much about economics, this is about an aspirational building for the city.’’
‘‘. . . I’m really excited to be moving along with this project.’’ Wellington Mayor Justin Lester