financial excesses

INTERNATIONAL
Qatar National Convention Centre
“We are
on track”
The Qatar National Convention Centre
opening mid-2011 is looking to get off to a
sound start. It has already entered the December
2011 World Petroleum Congress on
its books as the first high-profile event.
We are on track to open
in mid-2011,” Paul
D’Arcy, General Manager of
the Qatar National Convention
Centre, QNCC, announced
at a press conference
during AIME 2010 in
Melbourne. A comment seldom
heard in the previous
twelve months in the context
of major building projects.
But unlike many investors
in big construction projects
in other parts of the
world, Qatar – which even in
2009 turned in economic
growth of more than nine
percent – has no difficulty
meeting its payment commitments,
in contrast to Dubai
for instance.
For while Qatar may be a
rather bleak Arab desert
state, its oil and gas deposits
mean that its finances are
solid. Its citizens enjoy the
highest per capita income in
the world. And they will presumably
continue to do so,
with economic growth of
more than 20 percent expected
for Qatar in 2010. Infrastructure
projects, such
as the new Doha International
Airport, with stage one to
be operational in 2012, and
the construction of many
new hotels, have continued
at breakneck speed.
That is equally true of the
QNCC, which is intended to
place Qatar on the global
meetings map and send out
clear signals. Featuring
40,000 m² of exhibition
space, a conference hall for
4,000 delegates, a 2,300seat
theatre, another three
auditoriums and ultimately
altogether 57 meeting
rooms, the facility will be
one of the biggest convention
and exhibition centres in
the Middle East.
According to the Qataris, the
QNCC will also be the first
convention and exhibition
centre of its kind to be built
to the premium standard of
the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design
(LEED) Green Building Rating
System. Sustainability is,
after all, a key issue in the
industry today. That is why,
in addition to other relevant
measures, 3,676 m² of solar
panels will occupy 7,080 m²
on the roof of the centre to
produce fully 12.5% of the
total electricity required for
the building.
One indication of the Qataris’
very committed approach
to their country’s establishment
as a meetings
Design, service
excellence and CSR
destination is the QNCC’s
appearance as one of the
first Platinum Sponsors of a
‘strategic foresight study’
launched in March under the
title “Conventions 2020”.
Global industry heavyweights
– ICCA, IMEX Exhibitions
and Fast Future Research
– founded this research
programme to take a
wide-ranging and forwardlooking
perspective for the
future of live events, venues
and meeting destinations.
Paul D’Arcy explains: “As
we head towards our opening
next year, this research
will help us shape our business
model to best meet the
needs and demands of the
global meetings industry.
Following the vision of Qatar
Foundation’s chairperson
(the QNCC belongs to the
Foundation, Ed.), Her Highness
Sheikha Mozah Bint
Nasser Al Missned, our aim
is to set the benchmarks for
the industry in the Middle
East in terms of venue design,
service excellence and
corporate and social responsibility.
The breadth of this
study will assist us in achieving
these goals and remaining
relevant well into the future.”
TF
98 2/2010