NZ International Convention Centre still not ready, but has bookings to 2033

Tuesday, 15 April 2025

The New Zealand International Convention Centre is set to open on February 16, 2026

The opening has been extensively delayed after a significant fire during construction six years ago

Confirmed bookings including major international events and conferences

The long-awaited opening of the New Zealand International Convention Centre won’t happen until February, but the facility has received bookings through to 2033.

The downtown Auckland convention centre was supposed to open in 2020, but a significant fire during construction in 2019, and then Covid-19 the year after, resulted in lengthy delays.

Prue Daly, the venue’s general manager, said February 16 is locked-in as the date it will officially open and, she says, bookings are coming in thick and fast.

“We've got a full calendar, which only continues to get busier, with more enquiries coming through, as people are starting to hear that we’re opening in February, “ Daly said.

“We've got international events we can talk about publicly, but we've got a really solid pipeline all the way up until 2033.”

Confirmed conferences include the International Coral Reef Symposium, International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit, World Congress on Public Health and the Federation of Asian and Oceania Pest Managers Associations Conference, which will have 2200 delegates attending.

Daly says the senior leadership team are already in place, around 70 permanent employees will be hired later this year and in January 2026, they’ll add casual staff.

“We will build that up, so once we're at our peak, we'll probably need a casual workforce of around 300, if not up to 500 people to help us deliver the events,” she said.

“We estimate once we're up and running, we'll run about 500 events in the building a year.”

The NZICC will have a pre-function capacity for 2700 people, a convention capacity of 3150 and 4000 for one-off events.

For concerts, the NZICC will fill a gap between the Powerstation and the Town Hall, that have capacities of 1000 and 1500 respectively, to Spark Arena, which can hold 13,000.

Although the convention centre has the word ‘international’ in its name, Daly says she also wants it to be a place Aucklanders experience and enjoy.

“We talk a lot about the international events, that's the new business for New Zealand, because these are events that wouldn't come without NZICC being there.

“But the majority of the events we’ll have in the building will be domestic events.

“They will be New Zealand corporates, concerts, or exhibitions. My hope is that as Aucklanders come and have special moments in the building, whether that's winning an award at a gala dinner, or coming to see their favourite artist. We hope Aucklanders will feel just as attached to this building as our international guests.”

The City Rail Link is expected to open at some point in 2026 and Daly says this will have a big impact.

“Our international delegates are probably staying in hotels. If we've got 3000 people coming to attend a conference, they're going to be spread out all across the city,” she said.

“So the CRL plays a key part in us being able to move people to the Convention Centre. We're fortunate to have that station (Te Waihorotiu) right on our doorstep.

“Where I think it'll really come into play is all the domestic events we run, all those concerts and exhibitions, all of the things where Aucklanders and Kiwis are coming into the building.

“The City Rail Link will be an important piece of the puzzle to help get people to the building easily.”