Perth's CBD waterfront would be transformed by an ambitious pitch to revamp the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre (PCEC), opening it up to the Swan River.
Key points:
- New, yet unfunded plans for the convention centre have been published
- It would better connect the centre to the Swan River
- The carpark is sinking, and it has long been heralded as an eye-sore
Public debate on the PCEC, which was built in 2004, has long suggested it is somewhat of an eye-sore and doesn't make use of its prime location.
WA Premier Roger Cook on Tuesday unveiled plans for a major renovation to build it up and out over the water, which it currently doesn't have any direct access to.
The uncosted plans include three new jetties and an area fronting the water that curves around the centre.
A pedestrian bridge would connect the redevelopment to the adjacent Elizabeth Quay and the government will consider also revamping the central busport.
Restaurants, cafes and bars would dot the waterfront area, while the redesign also features a floating theatre stage.
Mr Cook said his government has now entered into formal negotiations with joint leaseholders Brookfield and Wylie Group over the plans.
The firms have released artists impressions of what they would like to build.
'Right an historic wrong'
Mr Cook said the PCEC was one of the "oldest and smallest" convention centres in Australia.
"If we are going to attract prosperous business events to Perth, we need to continue to upgrade the facilities we make available to them," he said.
"Our city deserves better than a shed on the river and this will right an historic wrong."
Housing Minister and member for Perth John Carey said the development would include high-density housing, which was critical for bringing people to live in the city and driving foot traffic.
Deputy Premier and Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti said the upgrade would help Perth compete nationally for business and convention tourism dollars.
"It's clear WA needs a new convention centre, an upgraded convention centre to compete with other states and draw in tourists into WA," she said.
"Business tourism in a sense gives you base load tourism.
"It gives you tourists coming through every part of the year."
She described the long-maligned existing centre as resembling a "cockroach". It's also been described as the "box on Swan".
The redesign would create more convention space – adding another 4,500 square metres to the existing 16,500 square metres along with a dedicated convention centre hotel.
Upgrade long sought after
Tourism Council of Western Australia chief executive Evan Hall said a redesign has been a long time coming, and governments had tended to "kick this one down the road".
"A lot of this was due to some pretty poor decision made when the convention and exhibition centre was first developed," he said.
"It obviously should have been interacting with the river.
"With the amount of space that was created it should have been pretty obvious, even then, that it was going to fall short, it just wasn't built for purpose."
Mr Hall said the facility was "economic infrastructure" that with a revamp would generate revenue.
"With that space we're able to pull in really high-spending delegates, the best business leaders from around the world, we show off our own trade.
"It is a massive injection of money and jobs into the state."
The Tourism Council of WA asked for the centre to be expanded in 2016.
In a report titled "Missing Pieces" the body called on the government to add at least an additional 10,000 square metres of space.
It also stressed it needed to "embrace" Elizabeth Quay and the Swan River.
The idea of connecting the centre to Kings Park by cable car has long been touted, but it's not something this new design explicitly accounts for.
In 2019 it became clear the carpark under the existing convention centre, which is built on reclaimed land, was sinking.
The cost of remediation works was estimated as north of $10 million.
The project's proponents could not give even a ballpark figure on projected cost for the project, aside from ruling out it would cost “billions” estimating it would rather be in the “hundreds of millions”.
Conference missed
Wylie Group wants the project done by April 2029.
Managing director Melissa Karlson said Perth missed out on major gas convention LNG 2023 because the convention centre was not up to spec.
“It doesn’t matter how much money Woodside, the government and ourselves threw at that bid, we were still too small and not world class enough to host that event, we still lost that to Vancouver,” she said.
“We’re now chasing LNG ’29, that event will bring in $100m over four days."
If the project passes all approvals, it's hoped construction could start in late 2025 or 2026.
Urban Development Institute of Australia (WA) chief executive Tanya Steinbeck said a redevelopment was "desperately needed" and while the centre was in the right place, it wasn't well executed.
"I think the intent behind the original design some time ago was for the convention centre not to compete with the city skyline, so it was deliberately low-key," she said.
"But what we've seen now with the transformation of Elizabeth Quay and some of those amazing buildings coming out of the ground, it isn't really fit for purpose anymore."
She urged the government to pay close attention to how transport fed into the site.
"I think what Perth needs to do more of is build over existing transport networks rather than reinvent the wheel and start from scratch every time," she said.
Australian Urban Design Research Centre director Jullian Bolleter said it was important the new convention centre be delivered as part of a much larger planning framework for the river.
"Typically, we haven't done a very good job at this … we've dropped the bell tower down there, or the stadium, or now an Aboriginal Cultural Centre," he said.
"Much of it (the foreshore) will be reclaimed by the end of the century by sea level rise.
"Without an overarching holistic vision, I'm worried we might revert to a mode of operation where we start dropping architectural monuments on the foreshore without having a bigger picture of how all of these systems, whether they're urban transport, or ecological, come together in a harmonious and positive kind of way."
Loading