A new city icon: National award shines spotlight on centre’s innovative design

Posted 22 May 2019

The accolades continue to flow for the Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC) with the venue’s $397M redevelopment (Stages 1 & 2) awarded the Hickory Building Award for Best Tourism & Leisure Development at the prestigious Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards in Sydney last week (17 May). The award recognises and publicly rewards the efficient use of capital in a new or refurbished Tourism and/or Leisure development.

Completed in August 2017 to coincide with the venue’s 30th anniversary, the ACC’s redevelopment created a ‘new breed’ of convention centre in terms of innovation and flexibility, while also significantly increasing its capacity and international capability. The project was nominated for the prestigious Property Council Awards by Lendlease, drawing praise from the Property Council’s chief executive Ken Morrison who shared that the ACC took out the award for “creating a new city icon and business tourism success story”.

“The response to our expanded venue has been extremely positive,” says Simon Burgess, General Manager, Adelaide Convention Centre. “Last year, we enjoyed a 20 percent increase in the number of events hosted here at the Centre. We’re thrilled to receive this latest accolade from the Property Council and extend our congratulations to Lendlease and Woods Bagot for their incredible contributions to the project. There’s no doubt that the redevelopment has ensured South Australia’s continued competitiveness in the global business events industry by providing us with the capacity to host more prestigious large scale events.”

The venue’s main Plenary Hall is a fantastic illustration of the ACC’s unprecedented flexibility, capable of being arranged into more than 15 different configurations to create an ideal fit for any event. From a purely aesthetic perspective, the ACC’s exterior design showcases a landscape formed over half a billion years ago. The West Building (opened 2015) was inspired by the dramatic layered geology and colour of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, while the East Building (2017) is reflective of Kangaroo Island’s Remarkable Rocks.

Learn more about the ACC’s design story, here.