Christchurch convention centre Te Pae bidding for events after Auckland fire

Wednesday, 11 March 2020

An artist's impression of a completed Te Pae.

Christchurch is expected to get a big dollar boost from the fire that ripped through Auckland's convention centre late last year.

Bids made for Auckland's cancelled bookings, if successful, would bolster the existing $65 million forecast benefit to Christchurch from convention centre Te Pae's first year.

Construction progressing on Christchurch's convention centre Te Pae.

Tim Loftus from ChristchurchNZ told the city council's finance and performance committee that the blaze triggered a 'significant influx' of conference inquiries and request for bids for events until 2023.

'The pipeline of confirmed events for 2021 is strong', he said.

Questions are already being asked about what the economic cost of the convention centre fire will be to Auckland. (First published October 23, 2019)

* SkyCity Convention Centre fire could burn lucrative international conferences

* SkyCity convention centre fire a big blow for New Zealand tourism

* First conference at Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre to be held in one year**

Te Pae general manager Ross Steele says negotiations are under way for some international conferences displaced from Auckland to come to Christchurch instead.

Fire and water damage to the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) under construction at SkyCity in Auckland pushed back its October 2020 opening date, perhaps by years. Wellington is also building a new convention centre, due to open in 2022.

In the meantime, Te Pae is on track for completion mid-October this year.

Among its most lucrative events will be the International Association for Ecology (Intecol) wetlands conference this October, and the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine conference in November 2021.

Both will attract about 1000 delegates and each is expected to inject about $1.8m in to the city.

Loren Heaphy from ChristchurchNZ's convention bureau said bids for some events displaced from Auckland were under way, so they remained confidential.

The number of existing bookings, even without the Auckland events, was their 'best case scenario', she said.

'We're feeling incredibly confident about the opening of Te Pae.'

Heaphy said the coronavirus outbreak did not appear to have had an impact on Te Pae because of the long lead-in time for convention planning.

However, it is understood some current and upcoming events at other venues in Christchurch such as hotels have been affected.

The $65m calculation for 2021 events at Te Pae used industry standard event economics, Heaphy said. This takes into account the type of delegates and where they come from, and what they are likely to spend on items including accommodation, food and drink.

One event displaced from the NZICC is the April 2021 Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) leaders conference, but that looks likely to be spread around other Auckland venues.

Te Pae will host its first event in mid-October this year.

Te Pae general manager Ross Steele said some transferred bookings from Auckland were national events that usually rotated among cities, and would now come to Christchurch sooner.

In the case of international events, there were negotiations under way, Steele said. Some organisations did not wish to publicise even their confirmed booking details, he said.

More than 50 conferences have already been booked for Te Pae and are expected to bring more than 28,000 people to the city.

Steele said about one third of international delegates coming to Christchurch would bring a partner or family with them, as would one in 10 New Zealand delegates.

More than 400 workers are on the Te Pae construction site at the moment. The main steel work outlining the shape of the structure and holding the facade panels is almost in place, and the administration area is being fitted out.

After the first events are held between mid-October and the end of November, the complex will close in December so its performance and systems can be reviewed before it reopens in January.

Te Pae is being built at a cost of about $475m, including $241m for construction, and is being funded by the Crown. It will have a 1400-seat auditorium, 24 meeting rooms, and banquet seating for 1800.

Land at the southern end of Te Pae is being subdivided now so developers the Carter Group can build either three or four hotels on the site.

BOOKED TE PAE EVENTS INCLUDE:

October

- Intecol international wetlands conference: 1000 delegates, four days, worth an estimated total of $1.8m to city.

- National Mustang exhibition: 450 delegates, two days, $180,000.

- NZ College of Midwives: 600 delegates, three days, $670,000.

November

- NZ Dental Association: 350 delegates, three days, $390,000.

- Endocrine group conferences: 800 delegates, four days, $1.2m.

December

Closed to review services

2021 onwards

- MEETINGS 2021: 600 delegates, three days, $670,000.

- Travel Managers conference: 600 delegates, three days, $670,000.

- Scientific Committee of Antarctic Research International Biology Symposium: 350 delegates, five days, $650,000.

- Australasian College of Emergency Medicine: 1000 delegates, five days, $1.8m.

- International College of Biological Invasions: 1000 delegates, three days, $1.1m.

- International Seed Testing Association: 500 delegates, seven days, $1.2m.

- Christchurch Art Show: 1000 delegates, three days, $1.1m.

- Australasian Coasts and Ports conference.

- Retirement Villages Association conference.

- HelloWorld Travel Conference.

- NZ Institute of Quantity Surveyors.