The new East Building at the Adelaide Convention Centre is set to debut in August as part of a major effort to drive investment to South Australia.
Nine years in the making, the last phase of the Adelaide Convention Center’s $297 million expansion will not only help the city attract larger events, but also revitalize its Riverbank precinct. The new building stands over the Riverbank, reaching out over the boardwalk and providing views of Adelaide Oval and the River Torrens. The city’s $3.71 billion investment into the new Riverbank Precinct has quickly made it a hub for business events, as it is home to the largest medical research precinct in the Southern Hemisphere.
The new convention center space will help advance Adelaide in the meetings market as it transitions its economy from traditional manufacturing to including high-tech industries such as defense, medical research and biotechnology. Case in point: The first major conference to be held in the newly expanded facility in September will be the 68th International Astronautical Congress, the largest annual gathering of space professionals.
The center will now make it easy for the city to host major events simultaneously in all three buildings—East, Central and West—while also providing meeting planners more flexibility. The East Building, for instance, is designed to be quickly subdivided and configured into pre-function, ballroom or exhibition spaces.
“New technologies are the hallmark of the [expansion], which will set a new benchmark in convention center design and functionality,” says Adelaide Convention Centre Chief Executive Alec Gilbert. “The delegate experience at the center is also more personal than many other convention centers, and being part of a relatively compact and highly accessible city makes the delegate experience more relaxed and enjoyable.”
