This afternoon, 6 September 2017, City of Cape Town Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, declared the expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, CTICC 2, ‘ready to welcome the world’.
The Mayor conducted a final site inspection of the expansion with CTICC Chief Executive Officer, Julie-May Ellingson, to give her final seal of approval of the construction of the expansion before contractors hand over the building for occupation.
The Mayor’s inspection included a tour of the impressive main conference and exhibition halls, meeting pod rooms, and the facility’s extensive back-of-house areas. These include the control room with state-of-the-art building management system as well as the facility’s hot, cold and pastry kitchens. The Mayor also viewed the centre’s open-air rooftop terrace, with impressive views of the city and Table Mountain.
The City of Cape Town contributed R550 million towards the expansion costs.
‘In July 2014, I broke the first ground at the construction site. Now, in September 2017, we are standing in the impressive, light-filled reception hall of CTICC 2. This has been a long journey, but it’s only through focused and visionary leadership by the City and its partners that we can welcome even larger events and conferences to our shores and take this city to greater heights. Today I’m even more proud to say that the CTICC is indeed a key driver of our efforts to position Cape Town as a forward-looking, globally competitive business city,’ said Mayor De Lille.
CTICC 2 is an elegant and modern expansion of the original building, now to be known as CTICC 1. The 31 148 m2 expansion adds 10 000 m2 of multipurpose conference and exhibition space through six halls located across two floors. The facility also include 3 000 m2 of informal and formal meeting space in the form of four larger meeting suites, a terrace room, and five smaller meeting pod rooms. Two modern rooftop decks provide the ideal backdrop for post-meeting cocktails. Unlike its original counterpart, the new centre is built across six floors and has more exterior balconies. CTICC 2 will also be able to operate as an independent facility. Its design received a 4-star Green Star rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa.
Mayor De Lille continued: ‘CTICC 2 is at the heart of the City’s mixed-use Foreshore Freeway Precinct project and the great new opportunities it will bring. At one level, the expansion will enliven this very area, but more importantly it will continue to create jobs and provide a community hub that will make progress possible for the CBD and the city as a whole’.
Ellingson, who oversaw the construction process, said: ‘The City of Cape Town has been the driving force behind making CTICC 2 possible. The City and its partners recognised the importance of an expanded CTICC more than a decade ago. It’s only through their committed support that we could steer a complicated construction process so successfully and I wish to personally thank the Mayor for her encouragement and ongoing support’.
The centre will host its first event, the 21st annual Congress of the Council of Shopping Centres, from 13 to 15 September 2017.
From 27 to 29 October, Mama Magic – the Baby Expo, a longstanding CTICC client, will host the first consumer exhibition in the new centre.
From 7 to 9 November 2017, Africa’s largest technology-focused event, AfricaCom, will host its 20th edition in the centre.
CTICC 2 has struck a chord with international associations and by the August 2017, the centre had already secured 10 major international events up until 2022.
The third International Conference on Global Food Security will seek solutions to feed the earth’s nine billion people. The event takes place in CTICC 2 from 3 to 6 December 2017.
In 2020, the World Ophthalmology Congress promises to attract 15 000 delegates and is the largest event the centre has secured in its 14-year history. The City would not have been able to win the bid for this event without an expanded convention centre.
International experts in biomedicine will meet in CTICC 2 for the 18th International Congress of Immunology in August 2022. With a forecast attendance of 6 000 delegates, the conference will also be using both CTICC buildings.
Ellingson added: ‘The CTICC has been a key driver of the region’s knowledge economy, a place where ideas are shared, investments planned, a platform for creativity and innovation and a stage where South Africans and Africans can take part in the co-creation of future scientific, technological and academic advances. CTICC 2 will no doubt bolster the centre’s credentials as a positive contributor to Cape Town and the Western Cape’s socio-economic growth’.
While the new centre will host its first events over the coming months, contractors will complete the multi-faceted marshalling yard, roadworks around the centre, and add finishing touches to the building. Construction of the sky bridge across the Heerengracht connecting CTICC 1 with CTICC 2 will commence in 2018.
Mayor De Lille had the final word: ‘I can’t wait to welcome our first delegates in this impressive building’.
