Modern Transformation of Claudelands Events Centre Celebrated

It is 10 years since the Chow:Hill-designed transformation of Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton/Kirikiriroa was completed. Last week, Chow:Hill directors Stuart Mackie and Brian Squair stepped through the doors to celebrate the success of the multi-purpose facility.

For Stuart, who was a key part the Chow:Hill design team, it was an opportunity to discover just how Claudelands had been utilised over the past decade. “Our design aimed  to achieve a modern multi-purpose events space that ensured design currency for years to come,” said Stuart. “So it was fantastic to hear from so many attendees on the night how flexible the design of the events centre has proven to be over the last 10 years.”

The award-winning conference and event centre is a far cry from the former venue, but preserving the site’s heritage was an integral factor in Chow:Hill’s design. “The  Claudelands site has a long history so we wanted to ensure the cultural significance of the location was communicated,” said Stuart. “Our design linked spaces with a glazed and column-lined concourse, edged with colourful solar louvres. This was to evoke the history of the Te Papanui site in terms of the historic forest and the flight of many colourful native birds. The aim was also to allow views of the surrounding Claudelands Park, which is something visitors to the arena continue to enjoy.”

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"...we wanted to ensure the cultural significance of the location was communicated." ~ Stuart Mackie, director

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In the past 10 years, Claudelands has welcomed close to 2.5 million attendees for more than 2,800 events. “That certainly confirms the flexibility of the venue,” said Stuart. “It was a really exciting project to be collaborating on all those years ago. We had a vision to shape Hamilton’s signature events venue and it’s especially rewarding to see this realised.”

The next decade will see further transformation for Claudelands Arena, which will officially be renamed Globox Arena in September of this year.  

Read more about the design philosophy behind our transformation of Claudelands Arena in our project profile.