Conference Centre for 2010 - Sunday Business Post

Sunday, 29 April 2007

The NCC, with facilities for up to 8,000 delegates, 22 meeting rooms and 4,500 metres space, will be a considerable boost to employment and business tourism in the capital, The first major public building to be constructed in Dublin since the foundation of the state, the National Conference Centre (NCC), is scheduled to open in mid-2010. Currently under construction as part of a public-private partnership between the state and consortium Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin (SDCCD), the centre will span a four-acre site on the north side of the Liffey, close to the International Financial Services Centre.  "This is an historic step forward for the Irish hospitality sector, which can now access the most lucrative markets in business tourism," said Dermod Dwyer, chairman of the SDCCD.
The NCC is expected to create 25 full-time jobs and 300 part-time positions when operational and will support over 2,000 jobs indirectly in the business tourism sector. The 44,000 square metre facility, designed by internationally renowned architect Kevin Roche, will be capable of accommodating 8,000 delegates in various configurations, making it one of the most flexible facilities in Europe, according to a spokesman for the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
 
The centre will cater for up to 2,000 delegates in plenary session, with 22 multi purpose meeting rooms and about 4,500 metres of exhibition and banqueting space, along with associated press and delegate support facilities and general utility spaces. A standalone 250-bedroom five star hotel will also be constructed onsite. Dwyer said NCC management were in advanced negotiations with a major international hospitality brand. This is expected to go some way towards compensating for the loss of up to 1,650 hotel rooms in Dublin 4 due to the closure of the Burlington, Berkeley Court and Jury's Hotel, which has caused concern in the conferencing sector.
The commencement of construction of the NCC was widely regarded as the answer to the sector's problems. Industry insiders see it as ironic that, now the centre has got the go-ahead, there is a question mark over the secure supply of near by hotel rooms.
Under the public-private partnership arrangement, the SDCCD is responsible for the design, finance and construction of the NCC and for operating and maintaining it for 25 years, after which the facility will revert to the state. In return, the state will pay the company an annual charge. Once the centre is open for business, the state will pay the SDCCD an annual fee at a maximum total cost over 25 years. The NCC is to pay €25 and €50 million years of just under €380 million in present day values, according to the Department of Tourism. Dwyer said he was confident the construction phase would not encounter any delays.
The construction company is CMP, a joint venture between Treasury Holdings and Sisk John Ronan and Richard Barrett of Treasury Holdings are principal shareholders of the SDCCD. The NCC will be managed by the NEC group and a stake holders' advisory board is currently being set up. Nick Waight, who has over two decades' experience with Birmingham's International Convention Centre, has been appointed chief executive, and Catherine Caiger, who has also worked at the ICC, is director of international sales.
NCC management, in cooperation with Failte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Dublin Convention Bureau, is marketing the centre in order to secure bookings for 2010 and after. This is crucial given that the lead time between booking an international conference and the event taking place could range from two to three years for smaller conferences to as many as seven years for very large events, according to John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism.
The British Orthopaedic Association will hold its annual conference in the NCC in September 2011 and negotiations are at an advanced stage for a major world congress in 2012 with over 3,000 delegates, according to Dwyer. The NCC will be launched to the Irish industry trade in mid-June, followed a few days later by a presentation to the international trade in London.
Noel Mitchell, formerly conference director of Ovation Group, welcomes the progress on the NCC. "We would hope to start placing bookings straight away, directly with the salespeople at the NCC," Mitchell said. The main problem with conferencing in the city is the lack of large facilities until the NCC of exhibition and banqueting writes Caroline Allen is open. Even when the NCC is operational, there will be a shortage of large hotel room blocks and function space. Often clients seek residential meetings in hotels, rather than using a convention centre, according to Mitchell.
They then require large room blocks and convention space in the hotel. "We have neither in the city if the Burlington closes, with .no prospect of any on the horizon," he said. "Citywest has both, but is too far outside the city for some clients." Jean Evans, chief executive of the Dublin Convention Bureau, said the 'soft sell' of the conference centre would continue until the trade launch in June. "That will give us details on the structure of the building, floor plans and other specifics required by conference organisers," Evans said. "The centre will really help to bring more people into the city, and there are increasing requirements to come to the city. "However, up to now, many association clients weren't considering Dublin because we didn't have a convention centre. Now, we are in a position to go back to them and tell them we have the centre and work on doing business together." According to a number of independent estimates, the NCC, when fully operational, is expected to generate additional foreign revenue earnings of between €25 million and €50 million a year.
The design of the centre, Dwyer said, is end-user driven, working from the inside out. Its architect, Kevin Roche, was born in Dublin and brought up in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. After graduating from UCD's School of Architecture in 1945, Roche worked with renowned architect Michael Scott before moving to the United States, where he is still an active member of the firm Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. A winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, Roche, now 85, has been described as "one of the most creative designers in glass that the 20th century has produced". He worked on the newly opened extension to New York's Metropolitan Museum. The infrastructure in the vicinity of the NCC will be one of the best in Dublin, said Dwyer. A Luas bridge will be built across the Royal Canal at Spencer Dock. It will be located on Mayor Street, beside the NCC. larnrod Eireann's terminus for the Maynooth rail line with 15 trains daily is just 300 metres away. Transport 21, the government's framework for transport for the period 2006 to 2015, has planned an interconnector Dart service to go under the city and connect with Heuston Station.