New timelapse footage of NZICC shows a project in progress

New timelapse footage of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) rising from its underground foundations has been made public by SKYCITY Entertainment Group today.

Now some 22 months in, the NZICC is quickly rising 14 metres above street level and is keeping the five cranes and more than 400 workers on site each day busy.

At SKYCITY’s Annual Meeting, held today, Chief Executive Officer Graeme Stephens told shareholders that there had been a “positive shift in momentum” onsite, with an experienced team on track to deliver the project by mid 2019.

New Zealand International Convention Centre construction site, as at September 2017. View timelapse here, anddownload timelapse video here.

While a lot of the attention has been placed on the opening date of the NZICC, Mr Stephens said, “the mutual goal for both SKYCITY and Fletcher Building is to deliver a piece of infrastructure that New Zealand will be proud of for decades to come - and I believe we are well on track to achieve that’’.

The NZICC is the largest CBD construction site in New Zealand, and has already employed more than 900 construction workers since the project began. Already, more concrete and steel has been used in the NZICC than the entire Sky Tower, the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest free-standing structure.

The NZICC’s General Manager Operations, Callum Mallett, says it’s now possible for the first time to see the outline of the massive convention centre and the adjacent Hobson Street hotel taking shape.

“For the first time, the shape and scale of the massive Exhibition Hall can be appreciated and the skeleton of the NZICC’s structure can be seen, which is very exciting,” Mr Mallet says.

“We’ve been keeping a video record of every day’s progress since we first started demolishing or preserving the old buildings on the site and throughout the excavation of thousands of tonnes of soil.

“Put together into a minute and a half of timelapse footage, this provides a unique insight into the progress we’ve made on the project to date.’’

Recently the NZICC sales team has doubled in size to continue the momentum of bookings and to continue to promote Auckland as an attractive conference destination around the world.

Large scale international conference bookings have already been secured for 2020, including two international medical conferences that will attract an estimated 6000 attendees and an estimated $11 million economic benefit to Auckland and New Zealand.

ENDS

NZICC by the numbers*:

• 900 construction workers employed on the project since it began

• 3,500 tonnes of structural steel erected on site, approximately 42% complete (the Sky Tower was 600 tonnes)

• 3,000 tonne of reinforced steel installed at NZICC, approximately 68% complete (the Sky Tower was 2000 tonnes)

• 19,000m3 concrete poured for NZICC, approximately 68% complete (the Sky Tower was 15,000m3)

• 44,000m2 of steel floor decking, approximately 60% complete

• 251 retention piles cast/driven

• Five cranes, including two of New Zealand’s largest cranes (one of the five cranes is dedicated to the hotel construction)

• 185,000 cubic metres of bulk excavated material removed from site

*Statistics as at September 30, supplied by Fletcher Construction

NZICC key facts:

• Sits on a 1.4 hectare CBD site, and will have 32,500sqm of floor space

• Five times larger than the current largest convention facilities in New Zealand

• Can host one off events of approximately 4,000 people

• Will have New Zealand’s largest theatre, with seating for 2,850 people

• 33 meeting spaces of various sizes at any one time

• Scheduled for completion mid 2019

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