Nearly 6500 check out Te Pae
More than 6000 Cantabrians curious about their new convention centre have been able to explore the facility at a special open day yesterday.
The community day at Te Pae was held to give people a glimpse through the centre, which officially opened in January.
Only a small number of private functions had been held when the Government’s shift to the red setting in January halted all events with more than 100 people, including the originally planned date for the community day in February.
The centre reopened in April, with Crown rebuild company O¯ ta¯ karo making the most of the closure to complete remedial work identified during a post-Christmas commissioning and testing period.
Yesterday’s community day was a free event, but was ticketed ‘‘to reduce the likelihood of people needing to queue on a cold Christchurch day’’, a Te Pae spokesperson said.
‘‘We had allocation for about 6500 guests, with pretty much all timeslots ‘‘selling’’ out before the day,’’ she said.
Visitors took a self-guided tour through the centre, taking in the building’s key spaces, including the riverside banquet rooms, 2800-squaremetre exhibition hall, 1400-seat auditorium and various meeting rooms.
Visitors were also able to learn more about the design and cultural inspiration for the facility.
Te Pae was built by the Crown for just less than $450 million, including $240m for construction, $74m for land and $34m for professional services.
‘‘It’s been really important to us that we had this opportunity to welcome the O¯ tautahi Christchurch community through our doors,’’ the spokesperson said. ‘‘We’ve been thrilled with the level of interest and engagement from members of our community and have really enjoyed showcasing our beautiful spaces and sharing the design and cultural narratives of the centre.’’
The open day was also a chance for Te Pae to highlight the great work of its charity partner Aviva, ‘‘and hopefully raise a little money for them as well’’.