Cairns Convention Centre Cairns, Australia

The Cairns Convention Centre is the Sydney Opera House of Cairns.

The Stunning Cairns Convention Centre at Twilight

Cairns - A growing business city

Martin Cattalini - Cairns Taipan

The Cairns Convention Centre was built in June 1997 to cater to business meetings and other large conferences being held in the Cairns region. Only two years later, a $28.5 million extension was completed to enable Australia’s national basketball league to hold matches there. The Cairns Taipans Basketball Team are Cairns’ only national sporting team and are widely supported by the local community.

This extension turned the Cairns Convention Centre into one of the most flexible centres of its size in the world and Australia's first purpose built international standard facility outside a major capital city and caters for functions of 200 to 5000 delegates.

Celebrating AIPC Award

In 2004 the Cairns Convention Centre won the coveted AIPC Best Congress Centre award. The AIPC is the International Association of Congress Centres and is the premier industry association for professional convention and exhibition centre managers world wide. Further in 2005 the Cairns Convention Centre was voted one of the Top 3 Congress Centres worldwide.

The staff at the Cairns Convention Centre were obviously very chuffed by their award judging by their jubilation on the Convention Centre steps, pictured left.

Accommodation near Cairns Convention Centre

Centrally located in the Cairns CBD, the Cairns Convention Centre walking distance from a wide range of Cairns hotels and apartment complexes. Here's a quick list of accommodation within 10 minutes of the Convention Centre.

Accommodation 10 Mins Walking Distance

Looking for something specific? Email us with your requirements and we'll find the perfect accommodation for you.

Convention Centre Venue Options

The Great Hall

Great Hall Dressed for Awards

The Great Hall has a maximum capacity of 2300 delegates or 1720 square meters of flat floor space. It can be divided into four individual quadrants for up to 500 delegates in each. When used as a Trade Exhibition centre, The Great Hall can hold up to 120 booths. This large space can be reconfigured to suit conferences, seminars, exhibitions, performances, dinners, sporting events and more.

The Second Hall

The 2nd Hall has a maximum capacity of 5000 delegates or 1470 square meters of flat floor space. This is an ideal place for concerts with a 5000-strong seated audience.

Meeting Rooms

There are seven individual meeting rooms that can seat between 230 and 360 delegates in theatre style.

If you'd like to know more about the meeting and functions capabilities contact the Cairns Convention Centre.

Environmentally Friendly Convention Centre

Trade Exhibition

The Cairns Convention Centre is also the first environmentally designed major public building in Australia. Every aspect of its architecture is designed to minimize impact on the Tropical North Queensland environment. The roof captures tropical downpours and channels the rainwater directly into storage tanks. This water is then used to water the gardens around the Cairns Convention Centre during the dry months, reducing the use of town water by 50%.

Front of the Convention Centre

Flow restrictors on all water outlets in the building result in further water consumption savings. The expected water saving is 30% of total water needs.

Hot water in the Cairns Convention Centre is provided in part by solar hot water heaters. These heaters provide 35% of the hot water.

Shading devices on the eastern side of the building follow the angle of the sun during the day, and reduce energy consumption by the air-conditioners by 5%.

The air-conditioning at the Cairns Convention Centre does not use damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as its refrigeration agent. This reduces the impact on the earth’s atmosphere.