Plan for Europe's largest meetings venue
Milan has unveiled plans to develop the largest convention centre in Europe.
The Milano Convention Centre will have two major auditoriums, 73 halls, 54,000 square metres of exhibition space and be able to host 18,000 people.
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The Milano Convention Centre |
The new centre, designed by Mario Bellini, is due to open in 2011 and will be central to the Expo event scheduled to be held in the Italian city in 2015.
The new centre will incorporate Milan's existing convention centre which is already the largest in Italy with capacity for 12,500 people.
Luigi Roth, chairman of Fondazione Fiera Milano, said: "Our city, a capital of trade, industry and exhibition business and a lynchpin and pillar of Italian SMEs, has now become a European reference point for congress tourism and incentives.
"This is an ambitious and important project that will allow us to host more than 200 events each year."
Maurizio Lupi, managing director of the Fiera Milano Group which will run the new centre, said: "Expansion of the Milano Convention Centre will put us into the top position in Europe and will allow us to work even more efficiently in this business segment, which represents the top market segment.
The segment is dynamic and generates economic repercussions that are particularly important to the region. Furthermore, we will also be able to host several events concurrently."
The new centre will add 5,500 seats and 46 new halls to the existing convention centre. The halls will be able to accommodate from 20 to 2000 people.
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