The International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) is an exhibition and convention centre which opened in December 2016, in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. ICC Sydney is Australia's second largest fully integrated convention, exhibition and entertainment centre, behind Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Created as a multipurpose event space, ICC Sydney has over 70 meeting rooms, three theatres and two formal ballrooms. ICC Sydney includes convention spaces for 2,500, 1,000 and 750 people. It also includes a flexible space of and the largest ballroom in Sydney, able to accommodate 2,000 people. ICC Sydney is within walking distance to over half of Sydney's 33,000 hotel rooms and is just from the Sydney International Airport. The ICC Exhibition Centre and Entertainment Centre includes of exhibition space, which can be divided into smaller spaces according to requirements. The first major event held at the newly developed centre was RTX Sydney hosted by

Rooster Teeth Productions Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warne ...

on 4–5 February 2017. The ICC Sydney, part of Darling Harbour Live, was developed by a consortium comprising AEG Ogden (no
ASM Global

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

, Capella Capital and Spotless, with AEG Ogden playing the role of venue operator.

Location

ICC Sydney is located in the

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Origin ...

, skirting the centre of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

and just from the Sydney International Airport. ICC Sydney is positioned on the waterfront, near Cockle Bay and

Tumbalong Park Tumbalong Park is a park in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia. The park was designed using native Australian foliage decorated with fountains as an urban stream. The name "Tumbalong" is from Dharug as spoken by the Eora people and means "pla ...

. ICC Sydney opened adjacent to a new global financial services hub

Barangaroo Barangaroo was the second wife of Bennelong, who was interlocutor between the Aboriginal people and the early British colonists in New South Wales. Barangaroo was a member of the Cammeraygal clan. While Bennelong spent considerable time in th ...

, as well as media, technology and knowledge centres. It features multiple public access points, with the option of visiting the precinct via a choice of walking or transport options including, road, light rail, train and ferry.

History and structure

ICC Sydney was designed by two architectural firms,

Hassell Hassell is a multidisciplinary architecture, design and urban planning practice with offices in Australia, China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1937/8 in Adelaide, South Australia, the firm's former names include Claridge, Hassel ...

and Populous, in a contemporary modern style. It replaces the former

Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre The Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre was a convention, exhibition and entertainment complex in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Designed by Philip Cox, the complex opened in 1988 as part of an urban renewal and redevelopment of the Darling Harb ...

that was demolished in December 2013. Construction began in early 2014; an estimated of concrete was used to construct the building. ICC Sydney is an 1.5 billion development being delivered through a

Public Private Partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

(PPP) with the

New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

and Darling Harbour Live (comprising Lend Lease, Hostplus, Capella Capital, AEG Ogden and Spotless). The development of ICC Sydney is part of a broader 3.4 billion revitalisation of Darling Harbour. Upon completion, ICC Sydney will adjoin a new 590 room luxury hotel tower (under the

Sofitel Sofitel Hotels & Resorts are a French hotel chain of luxury hotels based in Paris, France, and owned by Accor since 1980. Founded in 1964 in France, Sofitel quickly developed worldwide to reach more than 200 properties. In 2008, Sofitel became a ...

brand), a residential and commercial development (Darling Square), pedestrian boulevard and improved public domain that are all being created as part of the Darling Harbour development. The development will also include a reconfiguration of Tumbalong Park, providing an additional of green space acting as a new adaptable event space. In accordance with the contractual agreement with Darling Harbour Live and the NSW Government
ICC Sydney secured First State Super
an equity partner in the PPP's consortium, as the naming rights sponsor for the venue's 9,000 seat entertainment theatre on 1 July 2019. The 9,000-seat venue would now be known as the "First State Super Theatre" for the next 10 years. In September 2020, First State Super Theatre became Aware Super Theatre, following the re-brand of naming rights partner First State Super to Aware Super.

Construction milestones

*July 2015, ICC Sydney Hotel construction commenced. The hotel consists of 35 storeys and approximately 600 rooms. It is managed by

AccorHotels Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor op ...

under its

brand. *September 2015, Topping Out Ceremony for the ICC Sydney Theatre. The ceremony that marked the completion of the concrete pour for the top floor of the ICC Sydney Theatre was attended by NSW Premier

Mike Baird Michael Bruce Baird (born 1 April 1968) is an Australian investment banker and former politician who was the 44th Premier of New South Wales, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Western Sydney, and the Leader of the New South W ...

and Infrastructure Minister

Andrew Constance Andrew James Constance (born 31 October 1973) is a former Australian politician and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Bega for the Liberal Party between 2003 and December 2021. Constance served as the New S ...

Controversy

The 1989

Sir John Sulman Medal The Sir John Sulman Medal is an architectural prize presented by the New South Wales chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects since 1932. The medal is sometimes referred to as the Sulman Award and now recognises excellence in public an ...

for Public Architecture was awarded to Philip Cox Richardson Taylor Partners as joint winners for Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour which was demolished in 2014 to make way for the new development. Architects John Andrews and

Philip Cox Philip Sutton Cox (born 1 October 1939) is an Australian architect. Cox is the founding partner of Cox Architecture, one of the largest architectural practices in Australia. He commenced his first practice with Ian McKay in 1962, and ...

spoke out over the demolition of the

completed in 1988, criticising the fact that the existing structures had not been incorporated into the new development.

Facilities

ICC Sydney consists of three conjoined key structures: *Aware Super Theatre (previously known as ICC Sydney Theatre (December 2016 – July 2019) and First State Super Theatre (July 2019 – July 2020)) *ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre *ICC Sydney Convention Centre. The buildings contain a number of feature event spaces such as The Gallery, The Grand Ballroom and Event Deck. File:ICC Sydney Convention Centre GF lobby 2017.jpg, ICC Sydney Convention Centre lobby File:ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre Level 2 lobby 20170817.jpg, ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre Level 2 lobby File:ICC Sydney Theatre lobby 2017.jpg, Aware Super Theatre lobby File:ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre Level 4 Event Deck 2017.jpg, ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre Level 4 Event Deck File:ICC Sydney Convention Centre Moriarty Walk 2017.jpg, Moriarty Walk File:ICC Sydney Convention Centre Tidal Cascades 2017.jpg, Tidal Cascades designed by Robert Woodward

Hosted events

Twenty large international conventions are scheduled for ICC Sydney, including: * RTX Sydney 2017 *AIPC 2017 Annual Conference *International Chamber of Commerce World Chambers Federation (ICC WCF) 2017 *World Chambers Congress, 2017 *Amway China Leadership Seminar, 2017 *

Dangerous Woman Tour The Dangerous Woman Tour was the third concert tour and the second arena tour by American singer Ariana Grande in support of her third studio album, ''Dangerous Woman'' (2016). It traveled across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oc ...

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

, 8 and 9 September 2017 * RTX Sydney 2018 *Sibos, 2018 *SMASH! ( Sydney Manga and Anime Show), (2018–present) *

Here We Go Again Tour The Here We Go Again Tour was the seventh solo concert tour by American singer-actress Cher in support of her twenty-sixth studio album ''Dancing Queen''. This was the first time the singer had embarked on a world tour since her Living Proof: T ...

(2018–2019) by

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, 21 October 2018 * ASAP Live in Sydney, 20 October 2018 *

Madman Anime Festival Anime Festival (formerly Madman Anime Festival or MadFest) was an annual Australian anime and Japanese culture convention held in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. The convention was organised by Madman Anime. The convention was inaugur ...

Sydney, 2019 *

Golden Tour The Golden Tour was the fifteenth concert tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was launched in support of her fourteenth studio album, ''Golden'' (2018) and visited Europe and Australia. It began on 18 September 2018 in Newca ...

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

, 5 and 6 March 2019 *

Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road is an ongoing tour by English musician Elton John that began in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on September 8, 2018 and will end in Stockholm, Sweden on July 8, 2023. It is intended to be John's final tour and will consi ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, 21 and 23 December 2019 * Hillsong Colour Conference yearly in March. *

The Script The Script are an Irish rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin, consisting of lead vocalist and keyboardist Danny O'Donoghue, lead guitarist Mark Sheehan, and drummer Glen Power. The band moved to London after signing to Sony Label Group imprint ...

Greatest Hits Tour, 16 September 2022

Netball

During the

2018 Suncorp Super Netball season The 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season was the second season of the premier Netball in Australia, netball league in Australia. The season began on 28 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 26 August 2018. The start of the season was delayed t ...

, the main theatre hosted two

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

matches, one an intra-city derby between

Giants Netball Giants Netball (stylised as GIANTS Netball) are an Australian netball team based in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between Netball N ...

and the

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team wa ...

and the other between the Giants and the

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, th ...

. Despite not being designed with indoor sport in mind, the theatre was utilised by the league due to a lack of stadium availability elsewhere in the city. The venue is unlikely to host netball again, as both clubs will move into a permanent multi-purpose facility at the

Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre The Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre is a tennis and multi-purpose sports facility located within the Olympic Park in Parramatta, near Sydney, Australia. The centre was built in 1999 and hosted the tennis events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Th ...

in 2020.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2016 establishments in Australia Ballrooms in Australia Buildings and structures in Sydney Convention centres in Australia Event venues established in 2016 Tourist attractions in Sydney Theatres in Sydney Darling Harbour Boxing venues in Australia Netball venues in New South Wales Giants Netball Modernist architecture in Australia