Get the lowdown on the new AECC
The new venue opens in 2019
Last updated 6th Sep 2017
We've had the lowdown on the new AECC on day two of Offshore Europe.
Two videos, including a promotional 3D fly-through of the new £333million AECC building and a timelapse of the work happening at the site, were launched this week at this year’s SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition.
We've been speaking to Steven Daun, Associations Sales Manager about the new venue. Steven has been giving presentations at OE17.
The videos are designed to help showcase and show progress on the new AECC, which will open in 2019 and is designed to be a world-class exhibition, conference and meeting room venue.
Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: “The scale and quality of the new AECC will ensure it competes with the best national and international venues and it will play an important role in helping to grow our local economy.
“The promotional video will help showcase it to a global audience and the timelapse video is a fantastic way of seeing how much progress has happened on the site since work started on it last July.”
The promotional video highlights how close the new AECC is to Aberdeen International Airport and anchor existing international events and competing nationally and internationally for new events, as well as by broadening the appeal of the north-east to a global audience.
The new AECC features three conference/exhibition halls including the main arena, four multi-purpose conference rooms, and 15 meeting rooms.
The venue will be powered by Aberdeen's food and garden waste
The arena capacity is 12,500 people (9,000 square metres) with exhibition space of 6,000 square metres and an additional 33,000 square metres in the multi-purpose sub-terranean space.
The new AECC, which is being built by Aberdeen City Council along with partner Henry Boot Developments, is a key element of the Council’s Strategic Infrastructure Plan to grow and bolster the local economy, and is part of a £560million investment in infrastructure by the Council.
The new AECC is expected to contribute an additional 4.5million visitors, ÂŁ113million of visitor spend and ÂŁ63m net GVA to the Scottish economy, and the new promotional video includes destination marketing messages about Aberdeen and the wider area.
The timelapse video, which has been taken by the main contractors for the site, Robertson Construction, showcases the work since construction started on the site in July 2017.
Last month (August), the major steel beams spanning the width of the main arena were installed at the site using two specialised cranes. The 14 beams – or trusses – were lifted into place using two crawler cranes working together to lift them into place. Each of the beams weighs 84 tonnes, which is the same as about 56 medium-sized cars.
It would take Usain Bolt 40.8 seconds to run the length of the venue
The 88-metre-long steel trusses span the width of the arena, and given their size, were brought to site in sections and bolted together on the ground.
Nick Harris, Scottish director at Henry Boot Developments, said: “The new AECC is such a huge and important project, but sometimes it’s hard to visualise what it might be like when it’s finished. The new fly-through video allows prospective users to really imagine themselves within the new facility, and I am sure that it will generate a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.”
The new AECC will generate 600 new jobs during the construction period and 352 full-time-equivalent permanent positions by year 10 of operations.
Heading to Offshore Europe? Drop past stand 2C20 to find out more.