Saint John Convention Center Project Research Paper

Saint John Convention Center Project - Research Paper Example Among the top five convention centers by floor space size, Toronto holds the top four spots. Convention centers in Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, Regina and Edmonton are also represented in the top 15 largest convention centers by floor space. The table below details the rest of the top convention centres in Canada by floor space, together with mean and median figures for floor spaces and meeting spaces (Red7Media, 2010): Table Source: Red7Media, 2010 In the table above, the mean and median figures are markedly different, indicating that on the whole the conference spaces are smaller compared to the average by a factor of two. When it comes to total floor space though, the mean and median figures diverge less, meaning that on the whole there is some similarity in the total space available for many of the conference centers on offer in the list (Red7Media, 2010). On the other hand, such data excludes hotel capacity, and does not include prospective data on planned development, which ar e also key data for this particular part of the study. Moreover, the data above does not cover Atlantic Canada exclusively, which strictly must include data on New Foundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Fast forward to 2012, and among the biggest that have cropped up in Atlantic Canada is certainly the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, certainly likewise getting a lot of attention and debate regarding the merits and long-term value of such a large convention/conference centre in the area. This space is the subject of proposal requests from the government authorities for a new facility measuring 120,000 square feet of convention space (Trade Centre Limited, 2010). The existing facility in that place, aged 25 years, has a total floor space of about 50,000 square feet. To put this in perspective, the total floor space for the conference centers industry is pegged currently at 70 million square feet in 2012, increasing from 53 million square feet at the turn of the millennium, and up from 40 million square feet from twenty years prior to the present estimate (Power, 2012). The table below, meanwhile, details capacity expansion for the facility through to 2014, alongside revenue and takeup projections matching the increase in capacity and in step with the planned capacity additions for that centre (PKF Consulting, 2009): Table Source: PKF Consulting, 2009 As can be gleaned from the above table, capacity additions will be made up in justification by increases in demand and in actual consumption of capacity space, even as in the short term the capacity additions will result in operating losses. Given that the time span for revenue and income projections justifying the expansion of space is for a time period much longer than what the table covers, the investment in new capacity makes sense (PKF Consulting, 2009) In New Brunswick the lone convention centre is located in St. John, called the Saint John Trad e and Convention Centre, with a total floor space of 17,000 square feet, and with additional space for meeting rooms totaling 6,464 square feet (The