Convention centre
- This topic has 271 replies, 75 voices, and was last updated 16 years ago by
.
- Posts
Mansfield will make his money from the hotel rooms like any other conference centre. Most National conference centres are technically loss leaders however the Earlscourt Olympia group in London according to estimates published by the British government is responsible for 2bn spend for every 2oom of their turnover.
Your argument on risk and reward appears correct although it does not stand up in practice as there are to my knowledge and according to the article above, 3 property developers competing for the national conference centre competition who would not be doing it if it wasnt going to make money. I would expect that this would include government subsidy in the short term however if the benefit to the Irish economy was going to be a multiple of 10 of the capital input surely that would be a benefit to all? Again, the vast majority of this spend will come from a market that Mansfield will have no access to. Dublin is one of the most desirable destinations in surveys of the large international conference organisers but they would not go to a shed in the suburbs.The Frankfurt Messe by the way is competing against the Saalbau and the Jahrhunderthalle Frankfurt.
How about a shed in the midlands?
Consortium headed by Pat McDonagh (Supermac founder) has lodged an inital plan for conference center and hotel in Athlone with westmeath co-co.
Whatever about the rights and wrongs of building a national conferance centre in Athlone, it has to be said, that building is a shocker!
Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd has today welcomed the news that is the winner of the competition to build the new National Conference Centre, saying it will now build a landmark facility of which Ireland will be proud. Work will begin on the site immediately.
Responding to today’s announcement by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue, chairman of SDICC Dermod Dwyer said: “Our team is thrilled that we have been chosen to construct and operate this landmark building. We have dedicated a huge amount of time, effort and resources to ensuring it will be seen as one of the world’s leading convention centres.”
Accommodating up to 8,000 delegates, the building has been designed to provide high-quality and flexible meeting space, finished to the highest standards and with the most modern technology available.
“Once this building opens, we will have a facility of which Ireland will be proud,” Mr Dwyer said. “It will allow us to welcome major international events with up to 8000 delegates and will give us the opportunity to showcase Dublin, and Ireland, to the world.
“A partnership approach is crucial to this national project, and we would like to express our appreciation to Government, the OPW, CIE and other industry stakeholders,” continued Dermod Dwyer. “I would also like to pay tribute to the principals of SDICC – John Ronan, Richard Barrett and Harry Crosbie – whose vision and determination have brought this project to fruition. I salute the dedicated team of professionals who have been involved in the project including the future managers of the conference centre the NEC group; building contractor CMP/Sisk; Architects Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates; and an extensive range of Irish and International consultants.”
The National Conference Centre has been designed by the world-renowned Pritzker prize-winner Kevin Roche. When designing the new centre Roche said his aim was to create a legacy building which would be as iconic as the Four Courts and the Custom House.
Mr Roche stated that, for it to be successful, the centre must be properly planned, well managed and most of all, memorable, “The challenge for me was to design a building for both conventioneers and visitors that is state of the art, a pleasant place to visit and works better than any other conference centre anywhere,” he said.
The NCC features a dedicated 2,000 seat auditorium, extensive exhibition and banqueting space and a range of flat-floored conference rooms all served by spacious naturally lit foyers over five levels.
Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd has today welcomed the news that is the winner of the competition to build the new National Conference Centre, saying it will now build a landmark facility of which Ireland will be proud. Work will begin on the site immediately.
Responding to today’s announcement by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue, chairman of SDICC Dermod Dwyer said: “Our team is thrilled that we have been chosen to construct and operate this landmark building. We have dedicated a huge amount of time, effort and resources to ensuring it will be seen as one of the world’s leading convention centres.”
Accommodating up to 8,000 delegates, the building has been designed to provide high-quality and flexible meeting space, finished to the highest standards and with the most modern technology available.
“Once this building opens, we will have a facility of which Ireland will be proud,” Mr Dwyer said. “It will allow us to welcome major international events with up to 8000 delegates and will give us the opportunity to showcase Dublin, and Ireland, to the world.
“A partnership approach is crucial to this national project, and we would like to express our appreciation to Government, the OPW, CIE and other industry stakeholders,” continued Dermod Dwyer. “I would also like to pay tribute to the principals of SDICC – John Ronan, Richard Barrett and Harry Crosbie – whose vision and determination have brought this project to fruition. I salute the dedicated team of professionals who have been involved in the project including the future managers of the conference centre the NEC group; building contractor CMP/Sisk; Architects Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates; and an extensive range of Irish and International consultants.”
The National Conference Centre has been designed by the world-renowned Pritzker prize-winner Kevin Roche. When designing the new centre Roche said his aim was to create a legacy building which would be as iconic as the Four Courts and the Custom House.
Mr Roche stated that, for it to be successful, the centre must be properly planned, well managed and most of all, memorable, “The challenge for me was to design a building for both conventioneers and visitors that is state of the art, a pleasant place to visit and works better than any other conference centre anywhere,” he said.
The NCC features a dedicated 2,000 seat auditorium, extensive exhibition and banqueting space and a range of flat-floored conference rooms all served by spacious naturally lit foyers over five levels.
Fair play to Treasury Holdings they have displayed a very strong resolve to see this through.
I am delighted that Kevin Roche will be able to do a building in Dublin and this one does his formidable talent real justice.
But back to the issue of the National Conference Centre how has this project only received clearance from the government now?
In 1997 the RDS was the winner of a competition
Also in 1997 Mary O’Rourke reversed the decision
The project is then awarded to Treasury in 1999
The project clears ABP in 2000
The project then has its status removed
A new competition is announced
This project is yet another typical example of essential infrastructural provision in this country. It is no wonder that Treasury are investing billions abroad in projects such as Battersea Power Station and their Chinese Island. I suspect that these investments are a direct result of the hassle it has become in Ireland to do anything cutting edge.
yep i just do not get the delays on this … not sure either how it will fit “8000” delegates if the main auditorium has a capacity of 2K ? any mention of how much it will cost ?
Do people know is this the same design as has been doing the rounds for the best part of a decade or something a little bit different.
@kefu wrote:
Do people know is this the same design as has been doing the rounds for the best part of a decade or something a little bit different.
Pretty much the same design
City to get conference centre on banks of the Liffey
IT’S been a long time coming but now a glass-fronted newcomer is set to upstage its neighbours on the Liffey and become a landmark on the Dublin skyline.
The five levels of conference rooms, exhibition and banqueting space, and the 2,000-seat auditorium of the National Conference Centre have been much heralded over the past few years.
The UCD-educated architect who created the blueprint for the building admitted he had high aims in mind.
A “legacy” building was Pritzker prize-winning Kevin Roche’s aim – one which would be as iconic as the Four Courts and the Custom House.
The €400m project had been mired in planning issues, but permission has finally been granted and diggers are already standing by on the 81-acre site.
Milestone
Arts Minister John O’Donoghue said that yesterday’s signing of the contract with the Spencer Dock International Conference Centre Consortium, involving Treasury Holdings, businessman Harry Crosbie and Irish Rail, was a “milestone” for Irish tourism.
The NCC, to be located on the banks of the Liffey at Spencer Dock, will be less than half a mile from O’Connell Street and is expected to be completed by 2010.
The centre, boasting 22 meeting rooms, will accommodate up to 8,000 delegates.
Under the public-private partnership agreement, the consortium have signed up to design, build and finance the centre and will also operate it for a quarter of a century.
During this time it is expected to reap €380m, before the building then reverts to the ownership of the State.
Tourism chiefs have already started taking bookings, with the centre expected to be opening its doors for business in 2010.
Business tourism, including conference travel, is worth €475m to the Irish economy each year, according to Failte Ireland estimates.
Economy
The NCC is expected to be a moneyspinner for the economy, with estimated earnings of up to €50m a year.
Last night tourism and business interests welcomed the awarding of the contract.
Failte Ireland chair Gillian Bowler said Ireland would now be able to compete among the best to attract lucrative events here.
“I am particularly pleased that such a striking and innovative design has been selected, which will enhance the Liffey scape for generations to come,” she said.
The Irish Hotels Federation said that the facility would help the country attract a larger share of the €40bn global conference market.
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce said that the announcement came at a critical time, given the loss of venues such as Jurys Ballsbridge, which had over 850 conference seats.
Louise Hogan
Whatever else can be said about the project, it’s not less than half a mile away from O’Connell Street.:rolleyes:
It’s interesting to see that Irish Rail are still involved down there. That might help to explain their keenness for routing the proposed “interconnector” through the location.
I wonder just how closely they’ve looked at route options which do not go through Spencer Dock.
I recall there was a proposed underground route between Connolly and Heuston in the mid 70’s. We haven’t heard much about that in recent years. Irish Rail’s continued involvement in Spencer Dock might help to explain that.
The site is not 81 acres which would represent almost 33 hectares. That is the size of the entire Spencer Dock site. This convention centre design appears too small for a major convention. The design is multi story which is poor for a convention centre. I wish the Point Depot site was chosen.
IE maintain that Connolly does not have the capacity for the additional traffic the interconnector would bring & so are routing it through Spencer Dock which given the expansion of the city to the east & now the go ahead for the conference centre seems like an ok decision to me…
@Peter FitzPatrick wrote:
IE maintain that Connolly does not have the capacity for the additional traffic the interconnector would bring & so are routing it through Spencer Dock which given the expansion of the city to the east & now the go ahead for the conference centre seems like an ok decision to me…
Connolly in its current guise, with only overground services possible, would not enable the capacity increase which the interconnector would bring. IE are correct about that.
But they originally proposed an underground line which would have gone under Amiens Street, through Temple Bar and on to Heuston. This was proposed in the 1970’s, so with improved tunnelling techniques such a line should be a doddle in the modern day. That could connect rather nicely with the LUAS link-up/the Metro somewhere around Westmoreland Street. And given that the proposed tunnel is, apparently to be built to accomodate 12-carriage trains, a connection with Tara Street should also be very feasible.
It’s true that there is a certain amount of development going on in the east of the city. But the current centre of the city is already developed, and is always going to be a more popular destination than Spencer Dock or the area around it. Yet the proposed route will make this area more difficult to get to, for people who can currently travel on the northern DART line to Tara Street.
The solution, as far as I can see, is to build the line along the originally proposed route. That way:
1) you bring people directly to Connolly, and those who wish to go to Spencer Dock change onto the LUAS. I suggest that this would suit more people than the proposal that the line gets built to Spencer Dock and those who wish to go to the area around Connolly have to change onto the LUAS. The relative popularity of the two locations should become clear once the red line is extended to the Point. And apparently, because of the gradients involved in going under the river close to Spencer Dock, it looks like there will be a not inconsiderable walk to get from train to tram at the location, making it quite difficult to get to Connolly. On the other hand, this need not be the case at Connolly, as the underground station could be below the level of the river some considerable distance before even arriving at Connolly, so changing to get to Spencer Dock (or Abbey/O’Connell Street) should be quite easy.
2) Tara Street is currently a busier station than Pearse Station, indicating greater popularity. By building the line along the originally proposed route, people could go directly to Tara Street, as they currently can (though they would be doing so underground). That way, you bring people to Tara Street and those who wish to travel to Pearse would change. This is a better arrangement than one where people who wish to get to Tara Street would have to change at Pearse.
3) I believe that the link-up will show that the LUAS stations in and around Westmoreland Street will be more popular (i.e. greater passenger numbers getting on or off) than the station at St. Stephen’s Green. If the line were built as originally proposed, this could be catered for by bringing people directly to the Westmoreland Street area, and those who wish to go to St. Stephen’s Green would change. In my opinion, this would be better than the currently proposed arrangement where the line goes to St. Stephen’s Green and people who want to go to the Westmoreland Street area would have to change.
The originally proposed line would be some distance shorter than the current proposal, so you’d expect that it would be cheaper to build. And it looks to me like it would suit more people – though perhaps not Treasury Holdings. I’m interested to see than IE still have an interest in Spencer Dock – I thought they had sold the whole site to Treasury. But it might help explain why they ditched the original plan.
31/8/2007
Maybe this thread is more suited to the Convention Centre, given there’s quite a bit of venting on it…
Can’t say I’ve ever been a fan myself of it, and I suspect the interiors especially are going to require – or have already undergone – substantial modification from the near decade-old plan.
I managed to attend the bells-and-whistles launch of the NCC a number of weeks ago, and certainly the consortium who won the operating contract are very experienced internationally, the Birmingham ICC just one of their sites (albeit the smaller one), so it ought not to be National Aquatic Centre Round II.
The building is divided up as:
Basement: Parking and ancillary services.
Ground Floor: The Forum – the largest on-the-level exhibition space, with 3000 theatre or 2000 banqueting capacities. There’s also a vast entrance lobby here. Indeed all the floors have atrium frontage.
First Floor: The Liffey Suite – also on-the-level, this can accommodate 1800 theatre or 1100 banqueting, and also has 11 large meeting rooms and 4 boardrooms, with mezzanine.
Second Floor: The Auditorium – this is three storeys high at the very top of the building, and holds 2000 in raked theatre seating as seen here.
The whole complex is highly flexible as is to be expected, and seems to be very well adapted to creating different atmospheres too. For evening conferences the exhibition halls on the lower floors can be transformed for dining, with access to raking night-time views of the Liffey when taking a breather from the event.
However the enormous atrium appears to be little more than a Tribute to the Slab, i.e. the Jervis Centre on steriods, with vast expanses of crisp plasterboard adorning every conceivable surface, which looks decidely unimaginative. Hopefully the video renderings are just vague impressions, with lots of tweaking to be done – but thus far it’s certainly not a breathtaking interior. Perhaps the view from the balconies is the main focus of attention.
Some views of the model.
Directly attached to the rear of the centre – as seen above and below – is a proposed hotel, the operator yet to be confirmed. The proposed twisty bridge will adjoin it, running over the canal.
Some of this doesn’t seem that accurate – things have changed a little since the model was comissioned in 1947.
Incidentally, on that day I encountered two very well-known journalists – who shall remain nameless – who approached the model after sitting through the video promo, full-on explanation and presentation, and laden with enough glossy literature to line the walls of the said centre, neither with so much as a bull’s clue as to where the place was, what it was to house, who designed it, or indeed even the chequered saga of the whole proposal. Indeed the NCC rep there didn’t seem to know very much either, and it ended up with myself and another chap explaining the scheme to them. Thought it summed up quite neatly the commitment to the built environment in the Irish media. The abiding memory of the day is: “oh – so this is the Liffey then?”
*points*
@GrahamH wrote:
31/8/2007
Incidentally, on that day I encountered two very well-known journalists – who shall remain nameless – who approached the model after sitting through the video promo, full-on explanation and presentation, and laden with enough glossy literature to line the walls of the said centre, neither with so much as a bull’s clue as to where the place was, what it was to house, who designed it, or indeed even the chequered saga of the whole proposal. Indeed the NCC rep there didn’t seem to know very much either, and it ended up with myself and another chap explaining the scheme to them. Thought it summed up quite neatly the commitment to the built environment in the Irish media. The abiding memory of the day is: “oh – so this is the Liffey then?”*points*
Off topic but in a similar vein, they had the times journalist who wrote about the nesbitt take over of arnotts on morning ireland last week, he went on about the size and scope of the northern quarter development and Aine asked him, well where is this northern quarter located then: between henry street and parnell street, something like that, oh i amn’t reallty sure, he replied!
Tnx for the shots Graham,
I’m not a fan of the bland-brick facade either, but It will blend in perfectly with the Docklands!
Is the rest of that model designed by Roche?
I dont like the facade either. It just looks like a cylinder pushed through a block. Certainly won’t rival the four courts or the Custom house.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
