{"id":161780,"date":"2025-11-30T22:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T22:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161780\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T22:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T22:41:14","slug":"opening-date-of-aucklands-long-awaited-convention-centre-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/161780\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening date of Auckland’s long-awaited convention centre revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next year’s opening date of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) has been revealed – a milestone which marks the end of a decade-long construction project.<\/p>\n

SkyCity revealed the date, February 11, earlier this morning as it gave media a tour of the new central Auckland venue. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The NZICC project, located on Hobson St in the city centre, is adjacent to Auckland’s Sky Tower and spans 32,500 square metres over four floors. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

The gambling and entertainment company promised a series of “special events” during the first few weeks of the centre’s operation. <\/p>\n

The NZICC project, located on Hobson and Nelson St in the city centre, spans 32,500 square metres over four floors.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the International Convention Centre. (Source: 1News\/Jason Walls)<\/p>\n

General manager Prue Daly said there were plans in the making from “a dawn blessing and a spectacular showcase of the building and its world-class food and beverage, to a live concert and a public open day for everyone to enjoy”.<\/p>\n

SkyCity chief executive Jason Walbridge said there were 100 events confirmed for 2026.<\/p>\n

“The NZICC is a powerful investment into New Zealand\u2019s future, creating opportunities for local businesses, generating jobs for our wider community and elevating Auckland\u2019s event capabilities on a world stage.”<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the International Convention Centre. (Source: 1News\/Jason Walls)<\/p>\n

His company is touting the venue as “a gateway to Auckland\u2019s city centre, just steps away from luxury accommodation, award-winning dining and premier retail precincts”.<\/p>\n

The venue can accommodate more than 4000 delegates across its spaces, but scale up or down as needed for different events, according to SkyCity.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the International Convention Centre. (Source: 1News\/Jason Walls)<\/p>\n

“The team has been working hard to create an amazing calendar of both local and international events, and with over 121 confirmed already for 2026,” a spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

“The NZICC is expected to attract approximately 33,000 international delegates annually, contributing around $90 million in new economic spend each year.”<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the International Convention Centre. (Source: 1News\/Jason Walls)<\/p>\n

The $750 million project has been under construction for about a decade, with early works beginning in 2015 and a major fire crippling progress in 2019. Opening of the project was delayed from sometime in 2025 to February 2026<\/a> earlier this year. <\/p>\n

In June, SkyCity filed legal proceedings against Fletcher Building and Fletcher Construction, seeking compensation of $330m over the project’s “ongoing delays”.<\/a><\/p>\n

Intended to open in 2020, the project was delayed after a devastating fire hit the construction site the year before the opening date.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next year’s opening date of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) has been revealed – a milestone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,138,111,43,139,69,10097],"class_list":{"0":"post-161780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}