Sunshine Coast exhibition and convention facility
Proposed convention and exhibition facility located in the heart of Maroochydore city centre.
In June 2019 Sunshine Coast Council finalised a detailed business case for the development of an exhibition and convention facility in the Maroochydore city centre. Development of the detailed business case was undertaken with the support of Queensland government funding under the maturing the infrastructure pipeline program (MIPP).
The business case outlines how an affordable, value for money project will expand tourism in the region and increase business tourism and events; increase high value and knowledge-based businesses and jobs, help other industries pursue new opportunities for growth and influence other game-changing regional projects.
The business case aligns with the Queensland government project assessment framework and Building Queensland business case development framework and was provided to the Queensland government and the federal government with a view to securing a funding commitment to deliver this facility. To date, no funding commitments have been made by either the Queensland government or the federal government. The development of this facility cannot proceed without funding commitments from both the state and federal governments.
About the project
To be located in the 53-hectare Maroochydore city centre priority development area, an exhibition and convention facility could service a catchment population of more than one million people and become a business events drawcard. The proposed facility which was the subject of the 2019 detailed business case is a large and flexible events venue, catering for national and international conventions, tradeshows, exhibitions and some forms of entertainment.
Background
In 2017, council developed a realistic functional brief and specification that defined the operating and functional elements for an exhibition and convention facility as a contemporary, multi-purpose venue of regional significance. The functional brief proposed an operational model with a strong commercial focus to maximise business tourism benefits and align with the vision for the Maroochydore city centre.
The Sunshine Coast already has a number of event facilities, however the majority of these are smaller in scale. As such, a gap exists in the Sunshine Coast market for meetings, conventions and events with larger space requirements.
For more information, please contact council - refer to council's major projects team.