Messe Düsseldorf to rebuild the South entrance of its trade fair complex

Messe Düsseldorf, the Germany-based organization that operates the K plastics trade show, has approved plans for the complete reconstruction of the exhibition centre’s South Entrance, including its Hall 1 building.

The work is scheduled to start after the interpack 2017 trade show in May 2017 and should be completed in summer 2019, in time for the staging of K 2019 in October of that year. The total investment for the project will be 140 million euros.

According to Messe Düsseldorf CEO Werner Dornscheidt, “we are creating a high-quality situation for exhibitors and visitors, both architecturally and functionally – the kind that we already have at the North Entrance.”

Artist’s rendering of the outside of the new hall.

Both Hall 1 and 2 will be demolished, to be replaced by a new hall 1 measuring 158 meters in length, 77 meters in width and will comprise more than 12,000 square meters in total, roughly the size of the Halls 8a and 8b. The focal point of the new hall, Dornscheidt continued, will be a new illuminated and translucent canopy, 7,800 square meters in size and about 20 meters high.

“The new hall will meet the high technical standards of the entire exhibition centre,” Dornscheidt said. “It will be accessible via seven gates, and it will allow suspensions from all ceilings and also the supply of facilities to stands from the hall floor. Pedestrians can move between the hall and CCD South via a bridge on the 1st floor. As well as being connected to Halls 3 and 4, it will have a major route, leading from the South Entrance directly to the rest of the premises.”

On its first floor, the new hall will have six meeting rooms with 2,150 square feet each, accommodating up to 198 persons.

The project will be the latest in a long line of rebuilds at the 40-year-old Messe Düsseldorf trade fair grounds, beginning with the rebuilding of Halls 6 and 7 in 2000. “By the autumn of this year, 11 of the 19 halls will have been either rebuilt or completely refurbished,” Dornscheidt said. “The North Entrance was already redesigned in 2004 and is now, among other things, providing direct railway access to the Düsseldorf city centre and the central station.”