Hotel, golf and spa resort, Celtic Manor in Newport, is considering plans to build a new convention centre on land adjacent to the hotel which will have room for 3,000 delegates.
Already way into its £160m expansion plans, the hotel says the new centre will be one of the biggest dedicated convention centres in Europe. The resort can currently accommodate 1,500 delegates for conferences in its Caernarfon Suite. Hundreds of large events are held each year in the convention centre, which has around a 80% occupancy rate. When the resort’s hotel first open in 1999 land was then earmarked for a stand alone convention centre.
Plans will be put forward to Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government but issues stand at the fact there will be another large convention centre aimed at UK international conferences less than 20 miles from the capital where another convention centre is still being planned. A number of locations for a convention centre, which would cost around £90m, have been identified including Callaghan Square, land near to the Wales Millennium Centre at Aviva’s Cardiff Waterside scheme in Cardiff Bay, as well as the current headquarters of Cardiff Council County Hall.