On Thursday 5 December, the President of the Management Board of NDI Małgorzata Winiarek-Gajewska, Vice-President of the Management Board Dorota Michałowska, and President of the Gdańsk International Fair Andrzej Bojanowski signed a contract for the construction of a new hall and hotel in the AMBEREXPO complex. – As we announced, we want to strengthen Gdańsk's competitiveness and economic advantage – says the Mayor of Gdańsk, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, who took part in the briefing at which the documents were signed.
In July, the Gdańsk International Fair announced the start of the procedure to select a partner for a venture involving the construction of a multi-functional hall with a hotel as part of the expansion of the AMBEREXPO facility, along with the lease and operation of the hotel. The procedure has now been completed, finalised with a signed contract, and it is time to move on to construction work. The investment is worth PLN 147 million.
– We keep our word. We have signed a contract both for the construction of the fourth hall with a hotel and for the hotel operator. As we announced, we want to strengthen Gdańsk's competitiveness and economic advantage. We need a fourth hall to be a real competitor to other exhibition centres, not only in Poland but also abroad. We are also organising events that show that halls can be used in many different ways, not only for exhibition purposes – says Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk.
– I am pleased that the company chosen was from the Tricity, one we have worked with on various projects in the city and region. I know the hardest part now lies ahead of you. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope you manage to keep to schedule and budget, so that the largest fair events can soon be held here – adds the Mayor of Gdańsk.
Five companies took part in the procedure prepared by MTG. Each of them proceeded to the first phase, and MTG representatives held negotiations with each of them.
– In the end, three submitted offers, of which NDI's was the best. I am very pleased that a local company will be working with us. It is a very solid brand – as I know from experience. We watched how intensively and efficiently it entered the "Miecznik" project, which we are interested in from the point of view of our BALTEXPO fair event. I am convinced we have strong guarantees of a job well done – believes the MTG president Andrzej Bojanowski.
– We managed to take part in the tender procedure very efficiently. On Thursday we signed the contract, and for a few days now we have been setting up on the construction site. I hope our cooperation will go very well – says the President of NDI Małgorzata Winiarek-Gajewska.
– Our aim is to be able to achieve the first milestone next year, namely the construction of the hall. The hotel will be built in 2026, and that will open up further scope for cooperation. We very much hope that both the weather and conditions will be in our favour. We invite you to follow the progress of the work – he adds.
As a reminder, the new hall will be located on the AMBEREXPO site, between the existing Hall C and the SKM Gdańsk Stadion Expo stop. The hall's floor area will be 3,890 m2 – similar to each of the other three halls – while the storage sections will cover 1,514 m2. Like the rest of the complex, the building will also serve as critical infrastructure – its importance was proven during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a temporary hospital operated on the AMBEREXPO site.
– We are entering the second and third phases of the expansion. In 2022, once the COVID period had passed, once we had proven ourselves in action – including as critical infrastructure – we concluded it was time to seize the moment and design the complex's expansion. We began the work without knowing whether we would find the capital, or whether we would convince all the shareholders. Fortunately, we did not need to convince them for long. From the city we had signals that it did not want a passive enterprise. From the Marshal's Office, too, we heard that the region should develop through the meetings sector – says President Bojanowski.
– NDI's offer fit within our budget. It gave us solid grounds for making the decision, also because NDI's hotel brand partner is Ibis from the ALL group – Accor Live Limitless, the largest player in Europe. We want this to be a business hotel, suited to our venture and its surroundings. Above all, we want it to fill the gap we feel in the number of congresses we host. We managed to find a very good partner. We have financing, so we believe we will keep to the schedule, and from September our fair events will already be able to take place in the new hall, while in 2026, thanks to the hotel, we will begin a new chapter in the company's history – concludes the MTG president.
