Client: Nelson City Council

Authors: David Norman, Fiona Stokes, Kel Sanderson, Tim Grubb, Cristine Angus

Date: October 2009

This project, completed for Nelson City Council, considered the likely economic benefits of a proposed Conference Centre (CC), and a proposed Performing Arts Centre (PAC), for the Nelson-Tasman Region. The report estimated the likely construction costs of the PAC, and produced two scenarios of what economic impact the PAC could have on the Region.

The report also looked at the construction costs for a CC upgrade to seat around 800 delegates, including the construction impact of an associated increase in hotel capacity. The report estimated that an upgrade with associated hotel capacity would allow the Region to host 5.9 large conferences (300-plus delegates) a year, generating $1.3 million in additional Regional GDP per year, and 31 new FTEs.

Finally, the report considered linkages between the PAC and CC, and recommended a capacity for the CC of between 600 and 850 delegates.

BERL #4777