Builder: Multiplex
Contractor: Expoconti
Contractor: Cockram Interiors
Commencement Date: May 2006
Completion Date: June 2009

The Melbourne Convention Centre, accredited with the first six-star green star rating in Australia for a convention centre, is becoming the city’s premier meeting establishment. With thirty-two meeting rooms of various sizes, a grand banquet room and a state-of-the-art plenary that can be divided into three self-contained, acoustically separate theatres, the Melbourne Convention Centre has been inundated with event bookings since its opening in June 2009.

Making history as the first convention centre to be awarded a 6 Star Green Star by the Green Building Council of Australia, the centre offers visitors a mix of natural light and fresh air while using a range of power saving initiatives.

The $1.4 billion development, including the centre and commercial precinct, features:
• 5000-seat plenary hall
• Six-star Green Star rated Convention Centre
• Five star Hilton hotel
• Riverfront promenade of shops, cafes, bookstores and tourism retail
• Premium brand homemaker retail complex, and
• Revitalised maritime precinct.

The Melbourne Convention Centre project was unique for Rondo as it required walls to be over 6 metres in height and the acoustic requirements were identified as onerous. This task meant Rondo needed to design walls between exhibition halls, over 6.0m in height, and meet an acoustic requirement equivalent to having a rock concert in a bedroom, shutting the door and not hearing it in the lounge room.

As the project was drawing to completion, close engineering support was required to provide design and technical advice for parts of the centre that had changed or areas that were not originally designed for Rondo steel framing. Quick response times were paramount to our customer ensuring they didn’t have to alter their construction program significantly and to provide this level of support needed; the Rondo Melbourne team opened a site office at the centre.

Rondo would like to thank the builder Multiplex, and major contractors Expoconti and Cockram Interiors at the Melbourne Convention Centre, for allowing Rondo to be involved with this impressive project.