Erikka Askeland
The completion date for Aberdeen’s new conference centre has been put back several months, it was revealed yesterday.
The £185million complex at Dyce was to have been finished in 2017, but Brian Horsburgh, the boss of the Aberdeen Exhibition and Convention Centre (AECC) announced that the opening is now expected in the early part of 2018.
He said that more information about the plans for the centre were due to come out next week when Aberdeen City Council and developers Henry Boot launch a second series of consultation events on the plans.
Speaking at an event in Aberdeen yesterday, Mr Horsburgh said: “There is another element of the public consultation which will commence next week and there will be a bit more information to be made public at that stage.
“But I can say we are looking at early ’18 rather than late ’17 for an opening
“We will have conference capacity of 3,500. We are moving upscale significantly here,” he added.
The arena and conference centre at the Bridge of Don facility can currently hold conferences of 1,800.
A spokeswoman for the AECC said there had been no delays to the project and that the venue’s bosses were “not concerned” about the new time frame.
“We haven’t got a formal opening date yet. We are only in the first year of working plans up. We were always predicting end of 2017 or early 2018. We are not concerned about it. These things take time.”
Giving further details about the project, Mr Horsburgh said the conference centre would provide a boost for block buster concerts coming to Aberdeen as well as major events such as Offshore Europe.
“We have a current seating capacity for just under 5,000. The vast majority of artists are looking for 7,500 to 10,000 seated, which we can’t do. The new venue will change all that.”
When asked about proposed reductions in parking space available at the new facility, he said that the AECC was working with planners to develop sufficient parking as well as public transport links.
He said: “Car parking is always going to be an issue. Quite a bit of the parking on the new site is going to be underground, with a certain amount of parking above ground as well. One of the factors in terms of all of these new developments is maximising public transport to the site.”
He added that the current AECC, which was redeveloped in 1993, has reached full capacity. “We do now find increasingly we have to turn away business, and that brings tears to my eyes,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Aberdeen City Council said: “The proposed new AECC is due to open in 2018. The project remains firmly on track. There is no delay or slippage.”