Wellington’s great expectations

New Zealand’s latest convention and exhibition venue which opens this June, Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre, is expecting more than 100 events in its first year, the majority of which are multi-day conferences of 300-1,000 delegates. This striking new building is the capital’s largest built infrastructure investment since the Wellington Regional Stadium two decades ago.

Corporate events include Festival for the Future, New Zealand’s biggest leadership and innovation summit focused on the country’s future leaders, and the New Zealand Game Developers Conference which expecting to break record numbers as it moves to its new home at Tākina.

The venue is owned by the Wellington City Council and managed through Tākina Events, a partnership between Tākina and the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.

Tākina has event facilities across three floors and 18,000 sqm. The top two floors can host international conferences, with more than 10,000 sqm of flexible meeting space. The ground floor has a 1,280 sqm Exhibition Gallery, the largest in New Zealand.

M&C Asia spoke to Jake Downing, director of Museum and Commercial Services, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, on the impact the venue is making:

“The city has invested in Tākina to attract conferences which have a significant economic and societal impact on Wellington and Wellingtonians. This means that the centre focuses on attracting conferences which align to the city’s strategy in the first stance.

“In terms of delegate experience, a key focus for Tākina Events, the operator, is to showcase locally sourced food and beverage to the diverse audience we will be welcoming at Tākina, so not only will delegates be hosted in a five -star Green star venue, they will also be able to experience the amazing local produce which the region has to offer.”

The centre is located in the middle of the city, within walking distance of more than 4,000 hotel rooms and across the road from the waterfront and Te Papa Tongarewa.

The spaces in the venue have been designed to accommodate a single conference on each floor or one larger conference (700+ delegates) across both floors. This allows exclusive use for small to medium sized conferences.

Tākina Events operate both Tākina and the venue space at Te Papa across the road, so clients can book their conference at the convention centre, host social events at the Museum, and still work with the same team and sign one contract.

Added Downing: “One event we are really excited about is MEETINGS23 as we will get the opportunity to showcase our amazing new venue and service to our colleagues and friends within the industry.

“We've been very pleased with the level of interest and business we have secured for the first year and indeed the pipeline beyond that period. In the first year we'll host more than 50 multi-day conferences with more than 300 delegates.

“Together with visitors to the public exhibition programme we expect that half a million people will visit Tākina in its first year, about 65% of these will be from outside the Wellington region.”