EUROPE – German venue owner and organiser Messe Frankfurt has named its new congress centre in Frankfurt’s Europaviertel district.
‘Kap Europa’ is hoped to diversify and expand the city’s event business, and is billed as the world’s first congress facility with a German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) certificate for sustainable building and operation.
Messe Frankfurt executive board member Uwe Behm, said the new congress centre name makes reference to the Europaviertel district itself, but also to the striking design of the building.
“Together with the neighbouring Skyline Plaza shopping centre, Kap Europa will be a highlight in this district which, with its innovative hotel and office buildings and top city apartments, is a byword for internationality and sustainable growth,” he said.
Messe Frankfurt plans to use Kap Europa, a complement to the existing Congress Center built on Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds in 1997, to expand its range of congresses, conferences, meetings, incentives and special events.
Director of Congress Frankfurt, Claudia Delius-Fisher, said: “Our existing venue capacity is booked out and we need to meet the growing demand from our customers in the congress and conference business.”
Messe Frankfurt has already begun construction on Kap Europa, which will be built parallel to the neighbouring Skyline Plaza shopping centre by early 2014, and scheduled to open that summer.
The venue will be built on four levels and have space for 1,000 people, a divisible hall for 600 and 12 further conference rooms. The concept was developed by Messe Frankfurt together with joint venture partners ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co KG and CA Immo Deutschland GmbH, and implemented by architects at ECE.
While the Congress Center on the exhibition grounds is ideal for large-scale events requiring additional space, Kap Europa will fulfill a need for plenary sessions and multiple smaller rooms.
“A congress building such as this, that is very much in the public eye, needs to set an example as regards to ecologically and socially responsible construction and operation,” said Behm, adding that Messe Frankfurt wants to create a congress centre that “raises the bar worldwide with regard to construction and operational sustainability”.
Messe Frankfurt is launching a trade fair and congress later this year to promote scientific advances in clean room technology.
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