Aberdeen City Council has given the go-ahead for the development of a new, larger £200m Aberdeen Exhibition Centre in conjunction with a commercial development partner.
Between 2001/02 and 2012/13, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre’s (AECC) turnover grew almost three-fold, from £2.5m to £7.1m, the best year in the centre’s 28 year history.
Event growth has continued at a substantial rate, particularly for energy related events, and the centre hosts around 600 events each year. The total number of events held at the venue rose by eight per cent to 611 between 2011/12 and 2012/13, with event size increasing for many sectors.
In addition to this, the AECC has increased its economic contribution to Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire from £12m in 1989, to an estimated £109m last year (2011/12). The centre supports over 1,000 jobs in the region.
AECC was opened in 1986 to house the biennial Oil and Gas Show, Offshore Europe (OE). The show, owned jointly by Reed Exhibitions and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, grew to record size at the recent 2013 show, with attendance up 28.6 per cent on 2011 to 63,000 people.
The venue and surrounding infrastructure servicing Offshore Europe is now at capacity. The council says a new, larger high-quality space is required to deliver a higher quality experience for visitors and exhibiting companies attending OE from around the globe, as well as to provide space for continued growth.
Entertainment is a sector where Aberdeen has increasingly lost out in recent years, as the AECC’s seated capacity is quite small. According to the council, the new venue will open up opportunities to attract more concerts, and a number of shows which required a larger capacity.
The council’s choice for the proposed new venue is a site close to Aberdeen International Airport.
“I am delighted with the decision,” says MD of AECC, Brian Horsburgh. “This will enable AECC to take a quantum leap forward as a world class centre for business events and entertainment, and to increasingly contribute to the region’s economy going forward, as a key element of Aberdeen City’s infrastructure.
“Our challenge will be to find ways to continue to grow the business over the next three to four years until the new centre is completed in 2017,” he adds.
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