Conference Centre

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism recently announced that the contract for the provision of a National Conference Centre in Dublin has been awarded to Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd. The Minister said that he was delighted that after so many years of planning, Ireland's National Conference Centre was now about to become a reality. "The signing today of a contract between the Commissioners of Public Works and Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd represents a major milestone for Irish tourism", the Minister said. "It delivers the last major commitment in respect of tourism under the Agreed Programme for Government and follows a most successful performance by Irish tourism in 2006."

Under the public private partnership arrangement, Spencer Dock Convention Centre Dublin Ltd, is required to design, build and finance the National Conference Centre and to operate and maintain it for a period of 25 years, after which the facility will revert to the State. In return, once the construction of the Centre is complete and it is open for business, the State will pay the Company an annual charge, the maximum total cost of which over 25 years will be just under €380m in present day values.

Work on the Conference Centre, which will be located at Spencer Dock on the north side of the Liffey, will start immediately, as the project already has planning permission.

The building has been designed by the Pritzker Prize winner, Kevin Roche, the internationally renowned, Irish-born architect, who, after graduating from UCD School of Architecture in 1945, worked with the 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. "Kevin Roche has been described as 'one of the most creative designers in glass that the 20th century has produced'", said the Minister, "and I am confident that his design for the National Conference Centre will deliver a landmark building befitting of our capital city, and outstanding among its competitors."

The Centre will be capable of accommodating up to 2,000 delegates in plenary session. It will also have some 22 multi-purpose meeting rooms and approximately 4500m² of flexible exhibition and banqueting space, along with associated press and delegate support facilities and general utility spaces. "In other words", said the Minister, " the National Conference Centre will encompass the full range of facilities usually associated with state of the art conference centres internationally."