Grand opening for Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre Phase 2
Media
15/11/2008
Mace has successfully delivered phase two of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in time for the opening of one of the world's largest oil and gas exhibitions.
The Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) opened with a flourish with over 21,000 industry personnel and distinguished guests flooding through its doors on the first day, breaking all opening day records. Over the complete duration, ADNEC had expected 40,000 visitors but in reality a 70,000 people passed through the exhibition doors.
Under the patronage of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ADIPEC was opened by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Also present on the opening day was British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who spoke passionately about current and future world energy demands, and other diplomatic delegations from all over the world.
Just one year ago the Phase two expansion to the ADNEC was very much still on the ground level. 20% of piling still remained, the first columns for the exhibition halls and the multi-storey car park were just starting to rise up and the first of the many 66m long 20 tonne steel trusses for the halls had just arrived. Now, a year later, the exhibition halls, the 4,500 parking space nine level multi-storey car park and a whole host of additional work commissioned by the client periodically over the last few months, has been completed for ADIPEC.
While there are still some works outstanding, most notably the second multi-storey car park for 2,000 cars, partial completion was achieved in record time. With seven-day weeks and full night shifts the norm, the pressure was beginning to tell, especially for the contractor, so the client requested that Mace bring in additional resources to assist with the construction management of the project. This meant that the group's role incorporated both project and construction management.
ADNEC phase two is an expansion to the current exhibition facilities. It has a total of 11 halls and 55,000 square metres of exhibition floor space (eight football fields). There is also a multipurpose hall, with capacity of 6,000 people seated and two multi story car parks, for 6,500 cars. In addition there is an 18,000 square metre concourse, which is claimed to be the largest air conditioned exhibition concourse in the world, and the majority of the marble for it was required to be completed in just three months.
Visit the ADNEC website: http://www.adnec.ae/
More about ADNEC: http://www.macegroup.com/projects/project-library/abu-dhabi-national-exhibition-centre-phase-2
