The recently completed $115 million Darwin Convention Centre was officially opened on 18 June.
Laing O’Rourke, in joint venture with Sitzler Bros, undertook the design and construct contract for the centre, which was completed a couple of months early.
Construction Manager Steve Shenfield attributed the team’s success to a building design that permitted works to continue despite wet weather.
“Making extensive use of structural steel and installing a Kingflor significantly reduced this impact,” Steve said.
The convention centre, which is located on reclaimed land on the eastern edge of the waterfront development, features a 1500-seat tiered plenary hall, seven meeting rooms and 4000 square metres of exhibition space.
The centre has already received bookings for 11,000 delegates attending 23 conferences and exhibitions in the coming year.
One of the centre’s distinctive design features is the impressive floor to ceiling glass walls that offer panoramic views of the nearby wave lagoon, parklands and harbour.
The four-storey building, with a total floor space of 29,650m², has a structural steel frame with composite in-situ and precast concrete floors.
The external walls comprise an amalgam of glazing, precast concrete, deep profile metal cladding and metal sun-shading louvres to the west façade.
The roof area is approximately 8500m², and consists of a deep profiled metal deck roofing material to counter Darwin's high rainfall.
The Laing O’Rourke project team was a member of the Darwin Cove Consortium, a PPP arrangement that comprised the Northern Territory Government, Laing O'Rourke, ABN Amro, Toga and Sitzler Bros.