The Cape Town International Convention Centre’s sky bridge is taking shape over Heerengracht Avenue, in Cape Town. The soaring, steel-and-glass design, which will connect the CTICC’s two buildings, is already attracting the attention of Cape Town’s general public and those hosting their events at the centre.
The skybridge is being constructed to connect CTICC 1 and the new CTICC 2 expansion to allow for seamless movement of delegates and other visitors to the convention centre as they make their way between the two buildings.
According to Julie-May Ellingson, Chief Executive Officer at the CTICC: “We are very excited about our sky bridge which we believe is both beautiful and functional. Our clients love the design of the bridge as well as the integrated CTICC complex that the bridge facilitates. As a world-class venue, the CTICC is now able to welcome more events as well as host large-scale ones across both buildings.”
Tasso Evangelinos, CEO of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District, says his organisation is equally excited about both the bridge and the new extended facility: “The successes that the CTICC has already achieved in the past has made the facility one of the brightest jewels in our CBD crown. The expansion of this facility and the additional opportunities it will bring to the overall economy of our downtown is extremely important to our stakeholders. The fact that these two structures are now joined together above the busy Heerengracht thoroughfare via the newly constructed ‘float in the air’ bridge places the CTICC among the top convention centres in the world in terms of both beautiful form and excellent functionality.”
The 70m-long bridge comprises a steel frame with a concrete floor and roof, supported by slanted columns. Aluminium fins finish off the bottom. Full glass sides will reveal views across the Central City, up the historic Heerengracht-Adderley Street axis, to iconic Table Mountain.
“We have no doubt this bridge will become a popular place from which to take pictures of our downtown,” adds Tasso. “The view will be spectacular.”
The bridge will deflect vertically by 5 to 10mm, and horizontally by a similar amount. The maximum capacity is estimated at more than 5 000 people being able to cross per hour.
The new expansion has already secured several bookings for the convention centre, many of which are international conferences that will take place either in CTICC 2 or across both buildings.
The first of these is the World Congress of Audiology 2018, which will take place in October 2018. This will be followed by Africa’s largest telecoms, media and technology event, AfricaCom, in November 2018. In February 2019, Investing in African Mining Indaba will be at the CTICC, followed by the Congress of the International Society for Gynecologic Endoscopy in April 2019, to name but a few.
Of particular note is Africa Utility Week, bookings for which have already been secured for May 2019, 2020 and 2021, and which will annually see 9 000 delegates descending on the Central City and the CTICC.
Concludes Julie-May: “We look forward to welcoming Capetonians and visitors to experience walking across the sky bridge when it is complete.”
Opening image: Two sky bridges are currently under construction; one connecting CTICC 1 and CTICC 2, and the other connecting CTICC 2 and the Media24 building.
Second image: A view of the new sky bridge that will join CTICC 1 and CTICC 2. Both images are courtesy CTICC.