Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre

We are building a conference and exhibition centre so Wellington can host larger conferences and conventions.

Artist impression Convention Centre from Wakefield Street
Artist impression of Tākina from Wakefield Street

About the project

This bold new venue will be the Capital’s largest built infrastructure investment since the Wellington Regional Stadium two decades ago, offering a powerful combination of facilities across three floors and 18,000 sqm that draw visitors to Wellington to learn, meet and be inspired. Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre (Tākina) will be the Capital’s first premium event space delivering two key elements to Wellington’s economic infrastructure.

A place to share

The top two floors will deliver the Capital's first premium space to host meetings and conventions with over 10,000sqm of flexible meeting and exhibition space. This will be a space where Wellington can showcase the breadth and depth of expertise and thought leadership on offer in the Capital, hosting events, and building new ones for carefully targeted audiences that fit with Wellington’s Capital City status.

A place to inspire

The ground floor will include a 1,280sqm Exhibition Gallery that will be the largest in NZ. The Gallery will attract locals and visitors to see the global entertaining and inspiring exhibitions that will be on show. Locally developed and curated exhibitions will be premiered here before touring offshore - exhibitions that showcase the creative talents of Wellington and New Zealand.

Conventions

Wellington has been a successful convention destination for many years but at the same time has been hampered by the lack of high-quality venues. Post pandemic conferences both domestic and international are back up and running; the centre is designed for meeting the needs of national, Australasian, and specialist international market. Wellington wants to remain competitive in this business events market and Tākina provides a venue to allow that.

Benefit to the area

Being built on a Council-owned site on Cable Street, opposite Te Papa Tongarewa and near the waterfront, the centre will be a great addition to this vibrant cultural and entertainment precinct. Tākina offers this part of the city a transformative opportunity. We expect that the increased visitors to the area will encourage private development and enhancement of the surrounding area and the waterfront that will support and strengthen the areas’ economic vitality and associated economic benefits.

The base isolated and sustainable 5-Green Star centre is due to be completed in 2023. It will have huge positive flow-on effects for the City’s hospitality, accommodation and retail businesses and is expected to supply 372 jobs and bring in and protect business worth around $45 million a year in GDP to Wellington's economy.

Visit the Tākina Convention Centre website for further information about the centre, its design, how the project is progressing, its facilities, and how to book.

Visit Tākina website

Where are we up to

Despite the delay due to COVID-19, the centre remains on track to be completed in mid-2023 and is well placed to support the recovery in the business events and domestic tourism which will in turn be a welcome boost for the city.

The project started in December 2019 and the foundation and piling work was completed May 2020. Between May 2020 to September 2021 the main structure was completed. By May 2022 the façade was in place and the fit-out was complete February 2023.

The interactive Jurassic World by Brickman® takes place at Tākina, Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, from Saturday 3 June to 16 Oct 2023. The exhibit features over 50 LEGO® models including large-scale dinosaurs, props, and scenes from the blockbuster Jurassic World franchise. Visitors will be able to walk through the iconic four-metre-tall Jurassic World gates, travel via LEGO® creations to Isla Nublar and experience the inner working of the Jurassic World lab. Read more about Jurassic World by Brickman® here

You can register your interest for the show now. Tickets will be on sale from May.

We’ve been recording the progress of the work being done on Tākina.

February 2023 update:

Who are we working with 

We are working with Willis Bond and LT McGuinness to deliver the construction phase of the building. Once open conference services in the centre will be delivered by Tākina Events, a new operating function of Te Papa Tongarewa, supported by sales and marketing activities of Business Events Wellington and WellingtonNZ.

Karakia script

Background 

The convention centre is one of the Council's economic stimulus projects and was first proposed in our 2014 Economic Growth Agenda.

The project was part of our Long-term Plan consultations in 2015 and 2018. It is 67 percent funded by the commercial sector and will support 864 construction jobs and 372 jobs from operations.

The project addresses a changing landscape for convention and exhibitions facilities in New Zealand and a lack of suitable modern and fit or purpose facilities in Wellington. 
You can read more about the project, the design of the building and the WCEC’s economic contribution to the City here: 

Wellington Convention and Events Centre business case (2.3MB PDF)

Council approval

Councillors approved the project at the 13 December 2018 City Strategy Committee. You can see what went to the Council for approval here:

Addendum Agenda of City Strategy Committee – 13 December 2018 (15MB PDF)