Inside SkyCity’s convention centre: 10,000 teaspoons, 121 events, one opening date
Monday, 1 December 2025
Everything about the soon-to-open New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) at the SkyCity complex in Auckland seems huge, including the 10,000 teaspoons it has taken delivery of so conference delegates can stir their coffees and teas.
But among the many numbers thrown by NZICC general manager Prue Daly at media enjoying a “walk around” the centre on Monday, the one that counts for long-suffering SkyCity shareholders is the 11th.
That’s that day in February when the doors will open to the public for the first time at the NZICC, which has had a long and torturous history, not least having been set back by a devastating fire in 2019.
Here are some other numbers.
121: The number of conferences and events already booked to come to the NZICC, including the 16th International Coral Reef Symposium in July next year for which there will be around 2000 delegates.
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Three: SkyCity has three hotels with nearly 1000 hotel rooms linked by “Skybridges” to the NZICC as well as its casino, cafes and restaurants. The idea is to capture as much of the spending attached to each conference and event as possible for SkyCity shareholders.
100,000: The number of discrete items the SkyCity has taken delivery of since getting the keys to the NZICC four weeks ago. That included not only the 10,000 teaspoons, but 6000 chairs and tables.
2850 seats: The NZICC theatre can seat just under 3000 people, but it can be split into two theatres with 1200 seats each. The seating can be mechanically retracted so awards dinners can be held, with space for up to 1000 dinners.
Dinners can be served in the NZICC exhibition floor, and also in a dedicated space on a higher floor in the “vertically stacked” convention centre, where 700 diners could be catered for.
Daly said the theatre would host concerts that would not fill Spark Arena, or Eden Park. The Pogues, Bic Runga and motivational speaker Mel Robbins are already booked.
2032: Daly says the global conference industry works on long time frames. Some of the conferences it hopes to host are many years in the future, including one in the 2030s.
Just under 8000: That’s the dimensions in square metres of the exhibition floor, which Daly likens to the size of a rugby field. That’s not even the largest in Auckland. The Auckland Showgrounds, which NZICC will compete with for some vents, has 18,000m² of exhibition space. But there are 16 different configurations of the NZICC exhibition floor made possible because of its retractable walls. “We can do everything from 400 exhibition booths to a sit-down dinner in this space for 3200 people,” Daly said.
11 tonnes: Two 11-tonne truck lifts allowed smaller trucks to be lifted up the exhibition floor, but there were also panels that could be rolled back to allow semis to drive onto the exhibition floor from Hobson Street.
Two: It is increasingly common for brands to have their own iconic delicacy. Ikea has its Swedish meatballs. Costco has its rotisserie chicken and huge slabs of pizza. NZICC has executive chef Robert Cullen’s South Island “Famous” Cheese Rolls, and Nana Fay’s Custard Tarts.
2019: On October 2019, the NZICC was nearing completion when a fire broke out. Already the opening had been delayed from 2017.
In 2013 the then-National Government signed a “heads of agreement” with Sky City, which would spend its shareholder funds building a $402 million international convention centre.
In return for building the country an international convention centre, the casino operator would be allowed an additional 230 “pokie machines” on the casino floor, and an additional 40 gaming tables, outraging gambling addiction charities.
$330 million: The amount SkyCity is to sue Fletcher Building for $330m over the huge delay to its opening.
There are several other numbers SkyCity shareholders are deeply interested in: The date that NZICC would make a profit, and the impact it would have on the NZX-listed company’s share price.
Before the 2019 fire ‒ and since then SkyCity has had issues with its Adelaide casino ‒ SkyCity’s shares were worth just over $3.70. Today, they are worth 83 cents.
At SkyCity’s recent annual general meeting, one shareholder wanted to know whether he was wrong in suspecting NZICC would be quite low-yielding, and whether it might have been better for SkyCity to focus on running its New Zealand local monopoly casinos.
Daly said: “Convention centres globally are not generally profit earners. They are built for cities to drive visitation and economic benefit from people coming into the conferences.”
She said: “When we talk about our benefit to SkyCity, it's really about the visitation that we bring to the precinct and further abroad into Auckland.”
That included boosting stays at SkyCity’s hotels, and meals eaten at its cafes, bars and restaurants.
Exactly when SkyCity expects NZICC to turn a profit, Daly wouldn’t say.
“I hope we definitely are quicker than most, but I think it would be unfair to say that as of next year we would be running profitably,” she said.
“We want to be profitable, but we also know that we've got not a full year next year,” she said.
SkyCity’s financial year ends on June 30.
“We've got an operational team that is learning the building, so we just need a bit of time to get our groove on, and then we'll be there,” she said.