After a controversial government deal, a huge fire, legal action and a construction process that can only be measured using carbon dating, Auckland’s convention centre is finally here. Somehow, despite everything, it might be arriving at exactly the right time.
Hark! Gather round people and let me tell ye a tale of a time long ago. Dinosaurs roamed the tundra. We had to spy out for the sabre-toothed cat whenever we left the cave. Steven Joyce was economic development minister and he was doing a deal with SkyCity to build a new $402m convention centre in Auckland in exchange for letting it install 230 more pokie machines.
It’s been at least four million years since then. The convention centre has endured one of the longest, most cursed construction periods in New Zealand’s history. It was years behind schedule even before workers accidentally lit some cardboard on fire and burned down a good chunk of the structure in 2019. The convention centre’s operator, SkyCity, sued Fletcher Construction for $330m over that incident, which probably made the last few months of working together to repair the building slightly awkward. But at last they’re almost done. The Hobson St building’s opening is booked for February 11. Was the gargantuan effort to build it worthwhile?
If you ask Prue Daly, the answer is 1,000,000% holy cow absolutely golly gosh yes. The convention centre’s general manager is almost giddily excited about the place she’s charged with running for the foreseeable future. Daly describes herself as a “convention centre nerd”. It’s a believable claim. She guides The Spinoff around the new building with the enthusiasm of a Lord of the Rings fan who’s just been named mayor of Hobbiton by Sir Peter Jackson himself.
First stop, the atrium, where workers are still using a green cherry picker to install something near the entrance. These mini-construction sites are dotted throughout the building, as Fletchers carries out some unspecified “finishing touches”. “I don’t know what they’re doing,” says Daly cheerfully as we survey the crew of workers. Up a few levels, the task is more obvious. Window washers rappel down the building as Daly talks about the centre’s food menu.
Besides the last-minute flurry of activity, everything looks pretty much done. The building’s entranceway is laid out with blue and black marble tiles. A 17-metre-tall Shane Cotton (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Hine, Te Uri Taniwha) mosaic runs from the first floor to its fifth, while kaiwhakairo Lyonel Grant’s (Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa) equally huge Pou Wairua stands nearby. The art makes what could have been a sterile corporate space feel a little more like home. “I tend to travel around convention centers all around the world, and a lot of the time you can step into them and you don’t know where you are,” says Daly. “Here they’ll feel like they’ve been in New Zealand when they leave and that’s really important for international guests in particular.”
Escalators criss-cross the building, linking to a multitude of unusually shaped levels. The layout brings to mind Auckland’s original landmark meeting place, the technofuturistic Queen St complex SkyWorld, only with an estimated 40 to 80% less derangement infused into its design.
But the convention centre isn’t here to reanimate a rotting architectural icon. It’s here to provide a bunch of incredibly large spaces for businesspeople to talk about stuff. On that front, it seems to excel. Just off the atrium sits the intimidatingly massive Ariki Hall. “When it’s all opened up, it’s the size of a rugby field,” Daly says. But most of the time it won’t be Eden Park. Its walls are adjustable, allowing it to be configured for multiple conventions at once. Daly and her team have taken 120 bookings so far, including a big one: the International Coral Reef Symposium in July.
Five floors up, past dozens of work spaces and meeting rooms, sits the centre’s entertainment hub, Te Paepae theatre. The 2850-seat venue has a retractable wall down its middle, allowing it to be turned into two rooms capable of holding simultaneous shows. Christopher Luxon has already held his State of the Nation speech here. Six60 are booked to play its first concert in February.
Daly talks with some glee about the bells and whistles that go into these spaces. It’s hard to blame her. She’s been on the convention centre team since 2016 and it’s been a hard road to get here. But while the imminent opening is a milestone for her team, she’s adamant it’s better news for the city. “Honestly, I think Auckland is excited,” she says. “There’s real optimism that things are starting to shift. We’re not going to change the city by ourselves obviously, but we’re one of the reasons why people should be excited. Major events are good for the economy.”
They’re also good for SkyCity. The gambling giant’s Auckland license got extended to 2048 as part of the government deal for constructing the centre, and it’ll have an expanded arsenal of pokies and gaming tables to offer the corporate workers flying in to talk shop on Hobson St.
When the government struck that deal, Labour’s Chris Hipkins accused it of trading “off the misery of people who suffer from problem gambling”. Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive Graeme Ramsey said you create 0.8 problem gamblers for every pokie machine you add to a city. Prime minister John Key responded that he was more focused on the $90m annual boost to Auckland’s economy.
Now that economic shot in the arm is set to arrive in full and Daly’s right, it’s coming with Auckland primed for a change in fortunes. The City Rail Link is set to open in the second half of this year, bringing an influx of foot traffic. The St James Theatre is being rebuilt. The Aotea Centretheatre precinct is getting an upgrade and the area around Britomart is already humming.
After a fire, legal action and endless delays, SkyCity’s new convention centre will slot right into the middle of that revival. The building’s architecture is nice but, by some miracle, the company’s timing looks like it might be even nicer. As the saying goes, the house always wins.
