Nearly 6,500 attend Christchurch’s new Convention Center on the Community’s Open Day

More than 6,000 Cantabrians curious about their new convention center were able to explore the facility during a special open day on Sunday.

The community day in Te Pae was held to give people a look at the center, which officially opened in January.

Only a small number of private functions had been held when the The government’s shift to the red institution in January has halted all events with over 100 people, including the originally scheduled date for Community Day in February.

The center reopened in Aprilwith Crown refurbishment company Ōtākaro taking full advantage of the closure to complete the repairs identified during a post-Christmas commissioning and testing period.

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Sunday’s Community Day was a free event, but there was a ticket for it “to reduce the chance of people having to queue on a cold Christchurch day,” a Te Pae spokesperson said.

“We were allotted for about 6,500 guests, with virtually all of the timeslots ‘sold out’ for the day,” she said.

Visitors took a self-guided tour of the center, visiting the main areas of the building, including the riverside banquet halls, the 2,800-square-foot exhibition hall, the 1,400-seat auditorium, and several meeting rooms.

Visitors were also able to learn about the design and cultural inspiration for the facility.

Te Pae was built by the Crown for just under $450 million, including $240 million for construction, $74 million for land, and $34 million for professional services.

“It has been very important to us that we had the opportunity to welcome the Ōtautahi Christchurch community through our doors,” the spokesperson said.

“We are excited about the interest and engagement from members of our community and have really enjoyed showing off our beautiful spaces and sharing the center’s design and cultural stories.”

The open day was also an opportunity for Te Pae to showcase the great work of her charity partner Aviva, “and hopefully raise a little money for them too.”