Press 

Messe Düsseldorf reconstructs southern section

- Supervisory Board has given the go-ahead for reconstruction 
- Southern entrance area and Hall 1 to be rebuilt 
- The work will be completed in summer 2019
- New Southern entrance @ drupa 2020 

Supervisory Board and the shareholders of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH have approved plans for the complete reconstruction of the South Entrance and, subsequently, Hall 1. Werner M. Dornscheidt, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, is pleased: “We can now implement our Masterplan for the complete modernisation and renewal of the premises at our home base – and indeed, as always, without subsidies.” The investment volume of this southern section is EUR 140 million. In all, Messe Düsseldorf will invest around EUR 636 million until 2030. The work will start in May 2017, after interpack, and should be completed in summer 2019. The design has been created by the Düsseldorf-based architectural company slapa oberholz pszczulny architekten. 

Facing the city in a new way: the South Entrance
The new South Entrance will give Messe Düsseldorf a contemporary presence directly on the banks of the River Rhine with a view towards Düsseldorf. Trade fair visitors and convention delegates will be welcomed by a new illuminated and translucent canopy, 7,800 square metres in size and about 20 metres high. It will be a powerful architectural icon at this highly visible point of the exhibition centre. Jurek Slapa, Managing Partner at sop architekten, says: “The canopy gives the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre a new face and an unmistakeable address in a unique position between the Rhine and the Nordpark. At the same time it integrates the existing convention centre, CCD, ensuring a sensitive approach to existing structures.” With its length of 170 metres and a width of 93 metres, it will offer plenty of space for trade fair visitors and convention delegates before they even reach the exhibition centre or convention. 

The South Entrance will be open towards the Forecourt across a completely glazed front, 93 metres in length. Over 2,000 square metres of space will accommodate all the necessary services, such as cash desks and cloakrooms. The first floor will have a glass-enclosed meeting room protruding into the Foyer, affording a view of the entrance area right up to the Forecourt. Moreover, the entire Foyer can be used for events. The Forecourt will accommodate the entrance to an underground car park with 300 spaces as well as bus stops and the taxi rank. 

The new Hall 1: high standards and flexible use
“By redesigning the South Entrance,” says Dornscheidt, “we are creating a high-quality situation for exhibitors and visitors, both architecturally and functionally – the kind that we already have at the North Entrance.” This will also include a newly built Hall 1. After interpack 2017 Messe Düsseldorf is planning to demolish today’s Halls 1 and 2 and to replace them with a new building that will be immediately adjacent to the Foyer along its entire width. 

Being 158 metres in length, 77 metres in width and comprising over 12,000 sqm, the new Hall will be roughly the size of Halls 8a and 8b. The new hall will meet the high technical standards of the entire exhibition centre. It will be accessible via 7 gates, and it will allow suspensions from all ceilings and also the supply of facilities to stands from the hall floor. Pedestrians can move between the hall and CCD Süd via a bridge on the 1st floor. As well as being connected to Halls 3 and 4, it will have a major route, leading from the South Entrance directly to the rest of the premises. In this way Messe Düsseldorf is substantially boosting the usage options of this hall, while also increasing the flexibility of its interior design. 

On its first floor, the hall will have 6 meeting rooms with 200 square metres, each accommodating up to 198 persons. For even further flexibility, all rooms can be partitioned centrally. Moreover, the hall can also be used as an event venue outside trade fair periods and can accommodate, for instance, up to 10,000 persons seated in rows. “The creation of impressive, state-of-the-art event facilities in this place will substantially boost the attractiveness of Düsseldorf as a destination for conventions and other events, it will provide Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event GmbH with totally new dimensions in the marketing of their venues. However, as trade fair organisers, we, too, can offer our customers significant added value through the provision of flexible usage options.”

Messe Düsseldorf 2030: Strategies for the Future
Dornscheidt explains that massive changes have taken place in the trade fair sector over the last 15 to 20 years. On the one hand, he says, the sector has developed into a global industry, so that trade fair themes are now organised on a worldwide scale, and on the other hand, leading trade fairs of various industries have turned into meeting points of a globalised business scene. Apparently, however, trade fairs, too, have changed in character. The leading trade fairs of those industries, he says, have long turned into venues of international knowledge transfer where all stakeholders can exchange ideas, whether they are scientists, start-ups or global multinationals. “What we have now,” says Dornscheidt, “is trade fairs of a totally different kind.”

The Messe Düsseldorf Group started to respond to these developments at an early stage. It began by founding international subsidiaries on the most important global markets and by comprehensively expanding its international marketing network which now spans 132 countries all over the world. “Since then we have continued the development of our globalisation activities under our strategy Messe Düsseldorf 2030. It clearly puts the focus of entrepreneurial activities on expanding our global portfolio and on strengthening our international marketing. And what is particularly important for us,” says Werner Dornscheidt, “is the qualitative development of our leading global trade fairs in Düsseldorf.” 

He explains that one integral component of this corporate strategy is a masterplan on the modernisation of the exhibition centre – a plan which Messe Düsseldorf has developed in parallel and which covers all customer space on its premises. This masterplan started with the rebuilding of Halls 6 and 7 in 2000. The entire plan is based on continuous reviews of the project to ensure that it genuinely meets the customer’s needs, coupled with cost effectiveness and sustainable development. By the autumn of this year 11 of the 19 halls will have been either rebuilt or completely refurbished. The North Entrance was already redesigned in 2004 and is now, among other things, providing direct railway access to the city centre and the central station (Düsseldorf Hbf). 

Quality of the exhibition centre as a form of customer service
With this masterplan Messe Düsseldorf is responding to new requirements on its exhibition centre, arising from the qualitative changes of trade fairs. This includes the multifunctional usability of hall space and, above all, the creation of high-quality space for conferences and conventions of all sizes – a central aspect in the overall masterplan on the modernisation of the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre. This is very much in the spirit of the company’s clear customer focus which Messe Düsseldorf has prioritised in all its work – ever since it first planned and created the exhibition centre nearly 40 years ago. Situated within a metropolitan area of 150 million and covering a radius of 300 miles, the trade fair venue is in an ideal geographical position. It has its own motorway exit, leading straight to its premises and 20,000 parking spaces, good traffic connections between the entrances and Düsseldorf Airport – with about 200 destinations worldwide – and is close to two intercity railway stations. This makes the venue ideally accessible for exhibitors and visitors, while also allowing good access for setting up and dismantling trade fairs. Exhibitors have optimum facilities for their stands, and all stakeholders can enjoy major convenience thanks to ground-level access, a high load-bearing capacity of the floors, ducts for the supply of energy, water and telecommunications lines right up to the stands within a five-metre grid, as well as state-of-the-art engineering in all the halls. 

Werner Dornscheidt emphasises that “traditionally, we’ve always had a comprehensive understanding of customer focus and service. The Messe Düsseldorf 2030 strategy therefore comprises the development of our premises and our portfolio as well as the hard and software we use as trade fair organisers.”

The Messe Düsseldorf Group:
With a turnover of EUR 300m in 2015, the Messe Düsseldorf Group maintained its position as one of Germany's most successful trade fair companies. 25,800 exhibitors presented their products to 1.1m trade visitors at events in Düsseldorf this year. Moreover, conventions attracted over half a million visitors. About 50 trade fairs were held in Düsseldorf, including 24 global leaders in five areas of expertise: machinery, plants and equipment, trade and services, medicine and healthcare, fashion and lifestyle, and also leisure. In addition it held some 80 to 100 proprietary, joint and contracted events outside Germany, demonstrating that the Messe Düsseldorf Group is a leading global platform for export. Messe Düsseldorf GmbH is the trade fair company with the highest level of internationalism in capital goods exhibitions. Its proprietary events in machinery, plants and equipment had approx. 64 per cent international exhibitors and attracted 54 per cent trade visitors from other countries. In all, Düsseldorf trade fairs were attended by customers from 180 countries. The Group runs a global network of sales offices in 132 countries (71 international representations) as well as competence centres in 8 countries.

About sop architekten 
The architects J.M. Slapa, H. Oberholz and Z. Pszczulny can look back to over 25 years in which they have jointly developed and realised buildings in office, commercial, hotel, industrial and residential housing construction as well as airports, sports venues and teaching and research facilities. sop architeken are an architectural firm that operates internationally, has a workforce of around 90 and is based in Dusseldorf. Its hallmarks are a clear and timeless architectural language and a holistic approach to each building, down to the last detail. The architects have had a major impact on the face of Düsseldorf, with buildings such as Gap 15, the Hyatt Hotel at Düsseldorf’s Media Harbour, the Esprit Arena and the new Düsseldorf Airport. The firm’s international reference projects include the Orjin Maslak in Istanbul and the EM Stadium in Wrocław. 

Contact: 	Düsseldorf, November 2016 
Corporate Communication
Dr. Andrea Gränzdörffer
Tel.: +44 (0) 211 4560 555
Fax +44 (0) 211 4560 8548
Email: graenzdoerffera@messe-duesseldorf.de