Christchurch convention centre booked out one year from its opening

June 22, 2019

The massive construction project will be well-used, it seems.

A year out from its opening, Christchurch's new convention centre is already being flooded with bookings.

Te Pae, one of Christchurch's biggest quake projects, is "about halfway through construction at the moment," project director Matt Price said.

More than 300 workers are on site during the peak of its construction.

"The steel, concrete and roof is basically complete and we’ve really moved into the next phase, which is getting the fitout underway, as well as put the facade on," he said.

Once complete, the facade will have 40,000 fibre panels on the outside to create the look of Canterbury's braided rivers.

Inside, the centre will boast a 1400-seat auditorium, a banquet hall for 1000 people, and 24 interconnected meeting rooms.

Te Pae has already received more than 60 bookings, adding up to approximately 54,000 people coming into Christchurch over the next two years.

"We're forecasting the bookings that Te Pae have already made are valued at $65 million to the Christchurch economy. Future years, we're expecting that to grow to about $90 million through to $110 million by 2022," ChristchurchNZ's Loren Heaphy said.

And with Christchurch currently experiencing an economic slump, the city's promoters say the numbers are crucial.

"The things that business events and conferences do is bring visitors in other times of year outside the peak summer season," Ms Heaphy said, "so the opening of Te Pae will mean that during winter, we’re getting a whole lot of business events visitors who are spending money in this city."

Te Pae is set to officially open next October.

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