Ottawa’s year-long festival schedule kicks off each year with enchanting Winterlude in February, followed by signature events such as the Ottawa International Writers Festival in April and the Canadian Tulip Festival in May. Next year sees the inauguration of what is destined to be one of Ottawa’s biggest celebrations in years—the confirmed April opening of the new Ottawa Convention Centre (OCC).
An instant icon for Ottawa and for Canada, the sweeping new OCC (613.563.1984), overlooking the Rideau Canal and Parliament Hill, is composed of 1,084 curved triangular glass sheets—technology that did not exist five years ago, and is currently found in only three other structures in the world. In a city defined by Gothic gables and chateauesque rooflines, the OCC gives stately Ottawa a groovy new identity and allure. Ottawans are abuzz as exterior work nears completion—with high expectations for a significant and lasting business impact.
"This is the kind of economic stimulus the Ottawa Capital region needs at this time in our history," says Peggy Nieghorn, OCC’s manager of communications. "The new Ottawa Convention Centre will host organizations that have never been able to come to Ottawa because we could not accommodate their needs or their numbers."
According to Nieghorn, the OCC is already ahead of projections for its first year of operations, with space held for 80 conventions from 2011 to 2015 and 55 taking place in the first two years alone.
Highly flexible and more than the triple the size of its predecessor at 192,000 square feet on four levels, the new OCC, built to LEED Silver certification standards and featuring an interior wall of reclaimed century-old lumber, is a model of economic and operational sustainability. Connected to the Westin Ottawa and the 180-store Rideau Centre shopping complex, the OCC is only 20 minutes from Ottawa International Airport, and within walking distance of over 6,000 downtown hotel rooms. It’s a proximity that pays off.
"Almost 70 percent of anticipated hotel room bookings that will be generated by conferences and conventions taking place at the OCC are attributed to citywide events, which have the greatest financial impact for the city as a whole," Nieghorn says.