The Great Canadian Convention Centre Thread!
 

Since so many convention centres across the country have recently undergone, are undergoing, or will undergo expansions, I thought this might be a good idea for a thread.

Here is the current progress of the Winnipeg Convention Centre courtesy of Cyro...

http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_r...y=80&size=650x



Also, the Nova Centre in Halifax will include a major convention space for Atlantic Canada...

http://25.media.tumblr.com/90bc82b01...gsso1_1280.jpg
Ziobrop - http://fillingtheholehfx.tumblr.com/
http://thechronicleherald.ca/sites/d...ntionCen_4.jpg




And of course, the St. John's Convention Centre expansion!

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/...33c104fd_z.jpg
http://destinationstjohns.com/wp-con...r-1024x546.jpg
http://www.sjcc.ca

Edmonton Expo Centre at Northlands, the massive expansion was completed in 2009

http://www.rvcity.ab.ca/Portals/37/i...RE%20PHOTO.jpg

Very nice facility for tradeshows and conventions and such. I coordinated a whole bunch of mechanical sub-trade work on this project.

Winnipeg and Halifax's look really good, even St. John's one looks ok.
I love Ottawa's new one (completed in 2011)! Such nice modern architecture and creates such contrast with the Parliament, Canal and Chateau Laurier styles.

http://www.smaku.com/blog/wp-content...8/DSC_6883.jpg
http://actionplan.gc.ca/sites/defaul...?itok=KFe6X9QK

Yeah, Ottawa's and Vancouver's are my two favorites in the country. Though, Winnipeg might join them!

Meanwhile torontos convention centre is a piece of crap from the 1970's.. Oxford wants to change that, but it still seems rather far off.

''Montreal finished ahead of several major cities, including Washington, New York, Boston, San Diego, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires, as well as Toronto and Vancouver. ''
http://theplanner.ca/2013/08/28/mont...-for-2nd-year/

http://images.lpcdn.ca/641x427/20111...moder-plus.jpg
http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/aff...gressistes.php

I love the Ottawa centre.

Windsor basically gave it's old convention centre to St. Claire College for its downtown campus, when Caesars built it's new hotel tower and 100,000 sf state of the art convention centre. It has worked out well for everyone!

Here's a web page showing 19 of the main Canadian Convention Centres. Gives you a picture, general description, square footage, adjacent hotel rooms, theatre space, travel time to airport and parking spots...

Definitely worth a look!

http://www.conventioncentrescanada.c...es/ottawa.html

Ottawa's is beautiful. That render of Halifax's looks nice as well.

I'm not a fan of our expansion. It's more than just the personal disappointment that, yet again, we are underestimating ourselves and building something that is too small for our existing needs, let alone our growing needs (something of a habit we have; the airport, just recently upgraded, is being significantly expanded now as well). This should have been a much larger expansion with a hotel tower on top.

But my real concern is the design. To me, the design isn't great. It looks like an outlet mall. Can't you just see DANIER LEATHER and STAPLES on those orange and blue entrance features?

http://destinationstjohns.com/wp-con...r-1024x546.jpg

Hopefully the cladding is something interesting... but I think this is just going to be another average building in the Downtown West End.

It's still a step up from what was there before, though... a handful of dilapidated rowhouses, a couple of nice businesses, and a gravel surface parking lot.

Same view as the above render:

http://i62.tinypic.com/eb6fjr.jpg

Backside view (which will now be completely filled in by the expansion):

http://i61.tinypic.com/2db022s.jpg

Ya, it kind of looks by a mall, but at least it's a very good looking mall.

I understand you're frustration with building smaller than your needs. Ottawa has a rich history of doing the same. The Convention Centre is one of those examples at 192,000 square feet, smaller than Québec City's (232,000) and Winnipeg's (264,000) post expansion size.

Another example is the Confederation Line; to save on construction costs, the subway platforms were shortened twice from 180 meters to 150 meters and finally to 120 meters.

I checked it and apparently according to the the website Regina has the 3rd biggest convention centre in canada (489k) i'm sorry to say this but can someone show me the actual number because I don't think Regina could sustain such a big convention centre.

120 meters is still quite long for a platform, using 90 second frequencies (given that it is grade seperated this is possible) you are looking at a similar capacity to Toronto's subway today. Just be happy ottawa didn't go the way of the Canada line and build 40 meter platforms.

Some newer renderings of Halifax's:

http://www.halifaxconventioncentre.c...endering-1.jpg
Source

http://www.halifaxconventioncentre.c...endering-2.jpg
Source

It's only about 120,000 square feet, so if Regina's is pushing 500,000.. that seems kind of excessive.

Palais des Congres is gorgeous. The colour adds quite a bit of flair to that area; it's definitely quite Montreal-esque.

The current World Trade and Convention Centre in all its 1980s glory:

http://www.erappa.org/NJAPPA/images/...1287395872.jpg
Source

The Cunard Centre functions as a secondary convention centre, in a converted warehouse next to Pier 21. The building itself is nothing fancy but it offers interesting views of the industrial waterfront:

http://www.rcr.ca/img/catering/photo...terior-day.jpg
Source

http://www.rcr.ca/img/catering/photo...wines-show.jpg
Source

http://www.rcr.ca/img/catering/photo...ip-pier-22.jpg
Source

The north building was likely sold to Oxford because of the Allstream Centre addition to the Direct Energy Centre. South building is original. Where else will you find a subterranean convention centre.

Calgary needs to double/triple the size of it's convention facilities!

waste of money to enlarge the center if there aren't many conventions bookings that need the size. Large convention centres have been found to be a big waste of space and money for most cities, particularly in the states.

I quite like the MTCC's south building as well. Just bury the damn thing and you have benefit of it without it occupying an enormous amount of space. It is also very convenient to reach.

Yup....makes me want something more like Halifax's CC.

I think the renovation/expansion will look nice, but like you said I think we will outgrow this in a few years.

Ottawa definitely takes this one, followed by Vancouver. Can we get pics of Calgary, Quebec, and others?

Toronto's is ugly. Can't wait for Oxford to fix it up.

Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre - Halls A, B, and C are underground.

Québec City

http://www.can-acn.org/meeting2011/i...%20congres.jpg
http://www.can-acn.org/meeting2011/venue.htm

Calgary

http://www.csc2012.ca/images/calgary.jpg
http://www.csc2012.ca/1_about/location.html

Edmonton

http://www.edmonton.com/images/CentreofAttention.jpg
http://www.edmonton.com/shaw-conference-centre/

And for the Regina one, at 489,000 square feet, it's more of a suburban exhibition hall than a convention centre. It also seems like a pretty choppy layout and I assume the square footage includes the theatre space. It is not competing with the high class downtown Centres of the biggest cities.

http://sask3summit.files.wordpress.c...bury_large.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Exhibition_Park

I find solace in comparing with Vancouver's platform lengths, but keep in mind that their trains have higher capacities so the Confederation Lines max capacity at 120 meters matches the capacity of the Expo/Millennium line at 70-80 meters.

Quick note: I dig the proposed Convention Centre in Halifax!

I hate the deal we got in Windsor because you don't even really get the feeling that there is a convention centre in downtown Windsor. The way it's incorporated into the casino, at the ground level of the Colleseum theatre you almost wouldn't even know that it's there. There's no grand facade like many of these other convention centres have.

I just don't think it's presented well at all.

London's is utterly unremarkable, and therefore not worthy of a photo.

Here's a good example of the point I was making about Windsor's convention space. It's not even listed on this site and yet it's substantially bigger than what is available in Chatham-Kent. Windsor has 100,000 sq ft of convention space at it's convention centre, that I might you would probably have a hard time finding if you didn't already know it was located inside Caesars Casino.

Calgary's is just awful, the worst of all cities over 700 000. The city has been working for years to figure out how to expand it, or where an expansion could possibly go, without having to demolish the existing one. I'm afraid, however, that demolition might be our only option. Hopefully they botch the implosion and it takes the nuclear bunker... I mean the Glenbow Museum... with it. As long as the artifacts and art pieces are saved, it wouldn't be a major loss.

Toronto's Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place - Canada's largest exhibition and convention centre

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...43280683_n.jpg

http://www.directenergycentre.com/da...df9a24e34d.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...59134725_n.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...2C_Toronto.jpg

I'll see your Calgary convention centre and raise you Hamilton's (opened in 1981)

http://www.mcmasterinternalmedicine....ventcentre.jpg
Source page

http://www.bedouk.com/mediatheque/an...00404378_2.jpg
Source page

http://www.banquethallsontario.com/Carm-HCC_pic1.jpg
http://www.banquethallsontario.com/Carm-HCC_pic3.jpg
Source page for both pics

Vancouver's Canada Place convention centre won "worlds best convention centre" twice. And then they built a bigger and better one right beside it. Connected by a below grade glass bridge. With a cruise ship berth in between the two.

Apparently Oxford Place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is still in the works. It will be a fantastic area - shopping, a park, entertainment, offices, hotel - all over the rail the railway right beside the CN Tower and Rogers Centre!

http://urbantoronto.ca/sites/default...6508-21160.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/sites/default...6508-21162.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/sites/default...6508-23373.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/sites/default...6508-23372.jpg

http://urbantoronto.ca/sites/default...6508-23371.jpg

Whatever happens here, it'll be a beast!

Vancouver Convention Centre
 

http://lmnarchitects.com/assets/expl...jpg?1276214331
Source: http://lmnarchitects.com/exploration...esitgreen-vccw

http://www.bestcities.net/uploadedIm...ion-Centre.jpg
Source: http://www.bestcities.net/photogallery-vancouver.aspx

• Video Link

The Niagara Falls Convention Centre isn't bad.

http://www.marriottgatewayonthefalls...ion-centre.jpg

http://www.niagarafallstourism.com/s...4.1200x350.jpg

I like ours in Ottawa, but I think Winnipeg's might be a bit nicer. We'll see when it's done.

I do love Ottawa's Centre. There are some very good looking convention spaces completed across Canada and others on the way, very positive.

Just a small addition to Chads OP on the RBC Centre expansion in Winnipeg.
-------
Just another render to illustrate the bridge between the older structure and new one with York Ave beneath it. Vehicles will use York as a major entrance point to the building(s), (left: existing , right:addition), both the old and new expansion so traffic will flow beneath it.

"City Room, which will bridge York Avenue and will feature floor to ceiling windows to let in sunlight during the day and the glow of the city in the evenings. The 46,000 sq. ft. space will accommodate 2,800 people for sit-down dinners or 217 tradeshow booths. At street level underneath, York Avenue will serve as an outdoor, weather-protected gathering place.

http://www.meetingswinnipeg.com/uplo...g?t=1382459407

Other Features:


The $180 million dollar upgrade will include:

Total space on completion 264,000 sq. ft.
24,000 sq. ft. main floor ballroom;
22,400 sq. ft. main floor public lobby, concourse and registration area;
and an additional 57,500 sq. ft. third floor exhibit space that will connect to the existing building creating a new contiguous 135,500 sq. ft. of exhibition space that can accommodate over 650 exhibit booths.


Source

This is a similar design to the new Halifax convention centre... Grafton Street runs through the site and the main convention spaces will be above and below it. Initially all of the convention space was to be underground.

In Calgary the BMO Centre is also used for conventions as its larger than the Telus one afaik. Pretty sure most events are at the BMO anyway due to its size.

Hamilton also has the Careport Centre - a large privately run exhibition hall at the McMaster Innovation Park that used to be an industrial warehouse.

http://www.careportcentre.com/images/frontnewlook.jpg

Long term, Mac plans to use this for research space. Part of the building is now the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC).

There does seem to be demand for a space like this in Hamilton, so perhaps we'll see something new built at some point in the future (or adapted from one of the many large industrial buildings that are vacant, or will be). The downtown convention centre is landlocked, unless they were to do something creative like build on the parking lot across MacNab St. and create a large connecting exhibit space over the street, like in Winnipeg.

Ottawa also has the 220,000 sqft Ernst and Young Centre near the airport. It was built as the "replacement" for Lansdowne's exhibition space.

http://eycentre.ca/wp-content/upload...tre-Airial.png
http://eycentre.ca/wp-content/upload...entreFront.png
http://eycentre.ca/ottawas-ce-centre...t-young-centre

Calgary's two primary convention venues...

Telus Convention Centre - I think it's still the premier venue for the city. It's about 200 000 sq. ft. total.

http://www.sej.ca/wp-content/gallery...ion-centre.jpg
http://www.sej.ca/our-projects/past-projects/



BMO Centre - Built for the Stampede, hosts many other events such as the Sex Expo, ComiCon, and others... it's about 300 000 sq. ft.

http://venues.calgarystampede.com/up...-web-large.jpg
http://venues.calgarystampede.com/venues/bmo-centre/



They're both pretty much crap on the outside. Nice on the inside though at least!

BMO centre is hideous.. Stampitecture.. or what ever the term is.. barf. Inside is fine and serves is purpose. Comic expo coming up soon. Woot! Its amazing how big the Calgary Comic expo has become, and very quickly. #nerdout

BMO Centre looks fine for a suburban facility IMO.

:previous: It's clearly not a suburban facility, hence "built for the Stampede", that is the problem. No one would notice it outside of downtown. Thankfully it fits in with its surroundings and purpose, there will never be modern architecture on the Stampede grounds, and that's a good thing. People don't come to the Stampede to see glass, they come to ride rides, see horses, watch the parade, get hammered, see concerts, and experience exagerrated, sensationalized historic western culture.


I know, I was surprised about it too. It has over-maxed the capacity of BMO Centre for at least the last two years. Last year, they had to turn ticket-holders away at the door! :P

BMO isn't suburban though. Its about 5 blocks away from the Telus Convention Centre.

Calgary's Iron Ring ceremonies were in the Telus Convention Centre, right next to the big window overlooking Olympic Plaza. It was left naturally lit, and the view was very nice. I did like the venue.

Woups! Should have Google maped it first. I can see it is in fact right outside downtown.

Anyway, still a decent looking building. Serves a purpose for Stampede and large conventions needing one huge, continuous floor.

Largest in the country now?

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/

Cast of Aliens together first time ever this year.

Sorry going off topic now.

I had to work a convention in the BMO Centre before. Downtown was only on the other side of the parking lot.

The BMO centre is a pretty horrible convention centre. Most of it has a low roof to low for large booths to put up hanging displays and there are support posts everywhere. The new halls are pretty good but there is still zero room for any kind of decent reception and it's a total cluster for any pre and post lectures and/or ballroom events in the newer halls.

The Telus Convention Centre is nicely laid out but it's too small.