The Vancouver Convention Center

The opening of the newly expanded Vancouver Convention Center is a state of the art showpiece.

The newly expanded convention center includes an East building and the new West building.

There's the original Vancouver Trade and Convention Center at Canada Place along with the Cruise Ship Terminal, the Pan Pacific Hotel and the Imax Theatre and the new facility to the west towards Stanley Park.

The prized waterfront location of the West building took 5 years from planning to opening in the spring of 2009. It's built 60% on land and 40% over hanging the water and offers some of the most stunning mountain and harbour views of the city.

The new facility triples what we had before by adding an additional 473,523 square feet of meeting, exhibition, and ballroom space.

The Vancouver Convention Center has put a lot of effort into making sure that everyone who attends a meeting or conference in Vancouver at the new facility is sure to feel completely looked after and to have a memorable time.

Vancouver Convention Center Features:

• The building is completely wheelchair and disability accessible and with careful touches such as both same sex and unisex restrooms, public telephones at different heights seated TTY for the hearing impaired.

• There's a 24 hour first aid station on site and the attendants are all trained in emergency first-aid response.

• A six acre rooftop garden has been planted with 400,000 local plants and grasses to attract birds and butterflies. There's also an apiary to house bees and rain water is collected to use as irrigation.

• Everything in the kitchen is made from scratch with products from local farmers. Any left over food is donated to local charities.

A new hotel the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel will be attached to the new convention center.

This will be the fourth Fairmont Hotel in the metropolitan area.  The other three Fairmont hotels are The Fairmont Waterfront, The Fairmont Hotel, and the Fairmont Vancouver Airport.

The Fairmont Pacific Rim is scheduled to be finished in January just ahead of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.

The new hotel will be 42 storeys tall. The first 25 floors are to be hotel rooms and the remaining 19 floors will be residential live/work condominiums.

The neighborhood surrounding the convention center is close shopping, public transit, cafes, restaurants for dining and other downtown Vancouver hotels including:

Renaissance
Pan Pacific
Fairmont Waterfront
Four Seasons Hotel

There are also many popular Vancouver attractions nearby which would be a shame to miss. You may want to arrive to your convention a day early or leave a day later to take them in.

Stanley Park
Vancouver Aquarium
Gastown
Art Gallery

The Vancouver Convention Centre served as the International Broadcast Center for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.

Vancouver is considered a world class destination for conventions and your stay as a delegate to a convention here is sure to be an unforgettable experience.

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