The Adelaide Convention Centre was built to ensure South Australia could sustain and expand the economic benefit of the state's AU$1 billion share of the annual AU$17 billion conference and exhibition industry in Australia.
Built on the site of the existing convention centre, which had gone through a number of extensions and refurbishment programmes over its nearly three decades of successful operation, the new centre designed by Woods Bagot was developed in two stages.
Stage one included a 4,300m² multipurpose exhibition and conference space, meeting spaces and a 600-seat, 1000-standing ballroom that was built by extending the site over existing railway tracks.
Following the completion of the first stage, the old convention centre was demolished to make way for the second stage construction, which commenced in early 2015.
Stage two included a 3,500-seat plenary building or 3,000m² of flat area for exhibitions. This was achieved in the same area by the innovative use of seating that can be raised, lowered and reconfigured depending on the particular event.
The Building Code of Australia’s (BCA) deemed to satisfy requirements stipulated all steelwork to have fire resistance of up to 120 minutes.
The green credentials of Promat’s Cafco SPRAYFILM WB3 and its low VOC content also weighed significantly on the eventual ‘product approved for use’ decision-making process.
Approximately 25 tons of the Cafco SPRAYFILM WB3 spray coating system was installed at the Adelaide Convention Centre over an eight-month timeline.
