Spain. Since it was opened in 1998, the role of the Valencia Conference Centre as a driving force behind the economic development of the city has exceeded all expectations. It has helped to boost the city’s image on the international stage, making it the fastest-growing Spanish city in terms of European congress visitors. In fact, Valencia currently stands 10th on the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranking of non-capital congress cities, and is also ahead of major names such as Oslo, Washington and Toronto.
In the words of the Mayor of Valencia, Rita Barberá, “the Valencia Conference Centre is one of the main focal points for attracting tourists to the city. It is a major driving force behind the economy, and is a spearhead for the excellence and quality which the city has always advocated. The extension is a challenge in the current economic climate, but it is vital for Valencia to keep moving forward just as it did with the construction of the Conference Centre thirteen years ago”.
To consolidate its growth, the Valencia Conference Centre believes that it needs to reinvent itself and strengthen its international position by increasing its capacity so it can hold larger events. With this aim in mind, the Valencia Conference Centre’s extension project was officially presented this morning at the venue. The project’s design is based on the construction of a twin building adjacent to the existing facility.
Due to the architectural singularity of the Valencia Conference Centre, the solution envisaged by Norman Foster for its extension will involve the construction of a separate two-floor building made up of highly versatile, multi-purpose spaces. The new venue will have plenary rooms for meetings of up to 2,500 people, as well as a maximum of 20 break-out rooms with multiple capacities. It can also offer open-plan spaces, according to the needs of a particular meeting, thus ensuring the success of each and every event.
Juan Vieira, a partner at the Foster+Partners architecture studio, has declared that “the team is really pleased to have been given the opportunity to work on the second phase of the Valencia Conference Centre project as a result of the success of the original building. From an urban development viewpoint we have opted for a building which complements the existing venue, and enables events to be held simultaneously, and greater importance has been given to the garden areas in the middle of the two buildings. This means that from an aesthetic viewpoint the complex will have the same impact as the original building but will have a greater capacity”.
If the existing building’s activities are also taken into account, an annual figure of 150,000 overnight stays may well be reached, thus generating a direct and indirect impact of around €100 million per year, which would significantly contribute to the area’s economic and social development, just as the existing building has already done. There will also be a considerable impact on job creation from two points of view. Firstly, there will be an increase in employment directly linked to the event tourism market and secondly, jobs will be created during the construction of the new facility itself.
The estimated cost of the investment is around €24 million and will be self-financed. The Centre already has a future event portfolio which will make it profitable and thus enable both the existing and new buildings to be self-financed.
In line with the existing Centre’s role as a benchmark for sustainability, the new building will also have an avant-garde photovoltaic panel roof which, together with the current venue’s roof, will create a surface area of around 14,000m2 which will generate approximately 600,000kWh of clean energy every year, thus avoiding the emission of 465,000kg of CO2, which would require over 100,000 trees to absorb it.
The presentation, which was presided over by the Mayor of Valencia, Rita Barberá, was attended by the city’s Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Valencia Conference Centre’s Board of Directors, Alfonso Grau, and the venue’s Chief Executive Officer, Jose Salinas; as well as representatives from the Foster+Partners architecture studio, and numerous personalities from the event tourism market.
According to José Salinas “the Valencia Conference Centre has played a decisive role in establishing the city as a force to be reckoned with at international level. The number of foreign visitors has increased four-fold in the last four years, and the venue has hosted over 60% of the major international congresses held in the city in the last decade. In addition, Valencia leads the Spanish conference centre ranking in the number of national congresses held in the last three years with a 70% share of the market.
