Sydney faces tight schedule for interim venue

News this week: Last week, Infrastructure NSW (INSW) announced it has terminated negotiations with the winning bidder to build temporary exhibition facilities at Sydney’s Glebe Island. This week INSW stressed it will provide temporary exhibition facilities at Glebe Island on schedule in time for the 2014 exhibition season.

The Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) revealed it has met with INSW three times since the announcement and is concerned about losing six months to an already tight construction schedule for an interim venue. The EEAA stressed the government must ensure the timely delivery of a semi-permanent facility of at least 25,000 m² and provide additional funding when necessary to meet the proposed timelines.

The International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) is set to replace the existing Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC) at Darling Harbour as part of the new Sydney International Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Precinct. ICC Sydney will become Australia’s largest MICE venue capable of holding four concurrent events of over 12,000 delegates along with exhibition capacity of 40,000 m². It is scheduled to open in December 2016.

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