Vancouver Convention Centre West Building

“The Vancouver Convention Centre (formerly known as the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, or VCEC), is a convention centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; it is one of Canada’s largest convention centres. With the opening of the new West Building in 2009, it now has 466,500 ft² (43,340 m²) of meeting space. It is owned by the British Columbia Pavilion Corporation, a crown corporation owned by the government of British Columbia

The West Building is directly adjacent to Canada Place and consists of 220,500 square feet (20,490 m2) of convention space, 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) of retail space along a public waterfront promenade, and 440 parking stalls. Surrounding the building are 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of walkways, bikeways, public open space and plazas, for a total project area of 14 acres (57,000 m2) of land and 8 acres (32,000 m2) over water. The project also supplies infrastructure for future water based developments including an expanded marina, a float plane terminal, and water-based retail opportunities. The design architect for the expansion is LMN Architects of Seattle, in association with Vancouver firms MCM Architects and DA Architects + Planners. Morrison Hershfield ensured quality assurance and conducted enhanced field review during construction of all building envelope components including innovative curtain wall glazing and green roof. On February 9, 2010 the building was certified LEED Platinum by the Canada Green Building Council.

The West Building opened to the public on April 4, 2009. It effectively tripled the capacity of the convention centre. The building hosted the International Broadcast Centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics. Connecting to the centre is the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.

Adjacent to the West building is the Jack Poole Plaza (formerly known as Thurlow Plaza), in honour of Jack Poole, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. He was responsible for securing the bid of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics to Vancouver.”