NZICC’s Prue Daly.
Auckland is undergoing a MICE transformation with a swathe of new
venues being built and refurbished. The biggest venue in the country,
New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), will open in
mid-2025.
Venue design
GM, Prue Daly, shared how the centre’s design plays a critical role
in its success. It started with a collaborative process which involved
experience design workshops with delegates, PCOs, event planners,
industry service suppliers and more. “The results helped us to design a
building that is versatile, flexible and adaptable. Each event held
within the NZICC will be a bespoke experience and allow our clients to
create a seamlessly choreographed end-to-end experience,” said Daly.
The venue is located in the heart of the Auckland CBD, offering
divisible rooms across four levels with capacity for one-off events of
up to 4,000 people. A tiered, divisible and/or flat floor theatre venue
will accommodate up to 2,850 pax auditorium-style, or 1,100 pax
banquet-style. Other features include 33 meeting rooms, and divisible
halls of 6,700 sqm with 16 different modes for up to 400 exhibition
booths or over 3,200 pax for banquets.
NZICC will operate through a sustainable and community legacy lens,
not only providing economic impact to New Zealand, but also contributing
positive social impact to the local community in Auckland.
The country’s largest public artwork, Sara Hughes’ glass mural,
covers much of the exterior of the NZICC, 2,400 sqm in total, and is
made up of over 550 panels. Māori ceramic artist Peata Larkin’s artwork
comprises 13,500 terracotta tiles that form a spine wall alongside the
retail and dining laneway.
The scale of such art aims to take visitors on a storytelling
experience of the New Zealand landscape from the moment they enter,
creating an authentic New Zealand experience throughout interactions
with the team, the F&B served or any other customer touch points.
“We want all visitors to leave the building feeling like they have
truly experienced the warm manaakitanga (hospitality) of Aotearoa New
Zealand,” said Daly.
F&B offerings
Led by Michelin trained chef Rob Cullen, the NZICC will implement a
social procurement target to ensure supplier diversity and will
coordinate with local community groups to develop food donations, and
composting partnerships, ensuring any excess catering is redistributed.
“While we are unable to apply for accreditations during the build
process, we aspire to achieve several once completed including Carbon
Reduce, Earth Check, Green Building Council Rating, and an AIPC Quality
Standards Accreditation. We have committed to being a carbon-neutral
venue and have the ambitious goal of sending zero waste to landfills by
2030,” added Daly.
Forward bookings
The sales team led by director of sales & planning, Alana
Bicknell, has secured a pipeline of business events for at least 18
international conferences, contributing over 100,000 delegate days. Over
140 international and domestic bookings are being worked on for 2025
and beyond.
International conferences include World Indigenous Peoples Conference
on Education (WIPCE) 2025 with some 3,000 delegates; International
Coral Reef Symposium 2026 with 2,550 delegates; International Symposium
on Microbial Ecology 2026 with 1,800 delegates; and International Dairy
Federation’s World Dairy Summit in 2026, with over 1,000 industry
leaders and scientific experts.
Hotels get ready
With Auckland region's hotel rooms increasing to 18,000 and in the central city, to 8,000 rooms in 2025,
NZICC is moving ahead to engage with local hotel partners to be
part of its selling proposition. Said Daly: “We don’t have a special
alliance, but we work closely in partnership with all the hoteliers
directly, and through the Auckland Convention Bureau to make sure the
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland proposition is strong.
“What I personally enjoy about our city is the ‘Team Auckland’
attitude the business events industry and hoteliers have - we know we
need to work as a team to not only secure the business but also deliver
the business to the world-class standard we all aspire to.”