The centre has been severely damaged and there are expectations that upcoming convention and meeting business, including an APEC CEOs meeting scheduled for November 2021, may have to be moved to another location.
SkyCity
Auckland convention centre has gone up in flames and was still not under
control on Thursday morning after a three-day firefight.
The
centre has been severely damaged and there are expectations that upcoming
convention and meeting business, including an APEC CEOs meeting scheduled for
November 2021, may have to be moved to another location.
There
are reports that the building’s roof has partially collapsed, and the basement
car park flooded with water.
At its peak, 150 firefighters and 30 fire
appliances battled the blaze in the $700 million convention centre, which was
still under construction. SkyCity said its
casino, both its hotels, the Sky Tower and all its restaurants remained closed.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said APEC
2021 would still be held in Auckland, but the venue was a point of discussion
for Government.
"New Zealand has hosted APEC before ...
without a convention centre. We had contingency in place."
Officials refused to speculate on how the fire
started, but workers said they believed an unattended blowtorch could have
ignited the straw-like acoustic layer, quickly spreading to the roof's bitumen
membrane, the NZ Herald reported.