The Adelaide Convention Centre is a large

convention centre A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

North Terrace, Adelaide North Terrace is one of the four terraces that bound the central business and residential district of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It runs east–west along the northern edge of "the square mile". The western end con ...

, South Australia. It was the first purpose-built convention centre to be built in Australia. Along with several other venues, the Adelaide Convention Centre is administered and staffed by the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation, a subsidiary of the

South Australian Government The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the highest ranking mem ...

History

The convention centre was designed by John Andrews and constructed over part of the

Adelaide railway station Adelaide railway station is the central Terminal station, terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. All lines approach the station from the west, and it is a terminal station with no through lines, with most of the traffic on the metropol ...

, together with the

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational corporation, multinational hospitality company headquartered in the 150 North Riverside, Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchise ...

Regency Hotel (now the

InterContinental InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterC ...

Hotel), Exhibition Hall and an office block in the 1980s as part of the Adelaide Station and Environs Redevelopment (ASER) project. It has been rebuilt and extended upon a few times since its original construction in 1987. In 1999 an extension was planned and in late 2001 it was unveiled. It was designed by

Larry Oltmanns Larry Oltmanns (born 1951, in Rockford, Illinois, United States) is an American architect. He has achieved recognition for his work as an architect and master planner of large-scale mixed-use developments worldwide. Oltmanns is Design Director ...

who was a design partner with

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

at the time.Adelaide Convention Centre Expansion
. Retrieved 9 August 2011. The project won the

Royal Australian Institute of Architects The Australian Institute of Architects, officially the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (abbreviated as RAIA), is Australia's professional body for architects. Its members use the post-nominals FRAIA (Fellow), ARAIA (Associate Member) an ...

2002 Awards of Merit: BHP Colourbond Steel Award, Interior Architecture and New Building. SOM's expansion and renovation of Adelaide's Convention Centre reconnected historic parts of the city to the waterfront. Built on space assembled from

air rights In real estate, air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the Earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by oth ...

over a rail yard, the new facility shares a site with the Old and New South Australia State Parliament Houses, the Adelaide Exhibition Hall, the Festival Centre, and the Adelaide railway station –

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

. The SOM project, was completed with Adelaide architects

Woods Bagot Woods Bagot is a global architectural and consulting practice founded in Adelaide, South Australia. It specialises in the design and planning of buildings across a wide variety of sectors and disciplines. Former names of the practice include Woo ...

, and conformed to the Adelaide Riverbank Master Plan. Its "rational cooking system", the largest of any convention centre in the world, is equipped to serve 4,000 dinners in 20 minutes. The centre's main Plenary Hall can house up to 3,500 people in full convention mode. Looking over

Torrens Lake The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Ad ...

, the centre is home to most of Adelaide's major conventions. It has also been the location of some significant commemorations of Australian icons.

AVCon Avcon Corporation was a company that manufactured charging interfaces for early battery electric vehicles (BEV). The lettering convention is Avcon for the company and AVCON (capitals) for the EV charging connector. The company had ceased operatio ...

, an annual anime and video games convention was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 2009 until 2019, and again in 2023 following a three-year hiatus due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It has since been relocated to

Adelaide Showground The Adelaide Showground holds many of Adelaide's most popular events, including the Royal Adelaide Show. The Showground (also popularly known as the Wayville Showgrounds) is located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, just ...

. An expansion was announced in 2011. Making the announcement, the

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

at the time,

Mike Rann Michael David Rann (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and List of Australi ...

, said that work would begin that year on the first stage of the $350 million expansion abutting the

Morphett Street Morphett Street is a main street in the west of the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia, parallel to King William Street and numbered from north to south. At its northern end it is part of the West End of Adelaide, a thriving cultural and ...

Bridge and be completed in 2014. Stage 1 would include a multi-purpose concert space, meeting spaces and a 1000-seat ballroom over the railway tracks. Rann said Stage 2, scheduled to be completed by mid 2017, would feature a distinctive high-tech glass "arrow" structure capable of seating 3,500 people.

and

of Vx3 were appointed as the design team for the $350 million expansion in February 2011.

References

External links

*
Adelaide Convention Centre
{{Coord, 34, 55, 15, S, 138, 35, 41, E, display=title Buildings and structures in Adelaide Tourist attractions in Adelaide Convention centres in Australia 1987 establishments in Australia Event venues established in 1987 Adelaide Park Lands

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links