Located on Geelong’s waterfront just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, Nyaal Banyul will offer 3,700m2 of event space, including a 1,000-seat theatre. The 200-room Crowne Plaza Geelong is being built within the convention centre precinct and there are 1,500 other hotel rooms nearby.
Having a large-scale, purpose-built congress venue at the gateway to Victoria’s Great Ocean Road also opens up opportunities for iconic offsite dinners and pre- and post-conference touring.
Operated by the Victorian Convention and Event Trust (VCET), the team behind Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Becker says Nyaal Banyul has had the benefit of a well-oiled project team from inception.
“We were able to bring a lot of learnings from MCEC,” she says, “and that’s weighed very heavily in how the building’s been designed.”
Becker says that because MCEC was built in three stages, a key lesson for the new Geelong venue was getting the details right from the start.
“Retrofitting is clunky, it’s expensive. So with Nyaal Banyul, they went into the minute detail, from the rigging bars to floor pits, loading dock design, how people would move around, the flow, to make it all seamless.”
A consultation group, in collaboration with third-party consultant Paper Giant, professional conference organisers, community members and other stakeholders also provided insight into expectations and opportunities for the venue.
One priority, Becker says, was ensuring there was genuine, ongoing engagement with First Nations people and uniquely tailoring the spaces in the convention centre to the character of Geelong.
“People didn’t want it just to be another venue in another location. They really wanted it to embody Geelong,” she says, adding that the entire design and development of the venue was done in collaboration with the Wadawurrung, the Traditional Owners of the land Nyaal Banyul occupies, which is a first for an Australian convention centre.
“They were there before the first hole in the ground. We did a lot of consultative work…which was wonderful.”
Becker says this consultation helped guide the story of the space, the design and even the colour palette, artwork and carpet patterns. The name, she says, was gifted by the Wadawurrung and all the function rooms will also reflect Wadawurrung names.
At the rear of the building, internationally acclaimed Australian street artist Rone is currently creating an 88-metre-wide mural featuring portraits of 14 local community members, showcasing Geelong’s diverse cultural and Indigenous history.
“There’ll be no ugly back of buildings here,” Becker says.
“It’s such a beautiful space and it’s a space where the beauty of it really can’t fully be appreciated by images on a website.”
Becker says the land on which the convention centre sits is known to the Wadawurrung as a neutral ground gathering space for mobs to come together.
“So it’s wonderful that it’s now going to be a meeting space where the same tradition continues.”
Another priority for the venue is to operate on a carbon-neutral basis. Designed to be a 5-star Green Star rated building, it’s expected to deliver on its carbon neutral promise from day one.
Similar to MCEC, Nyaal Banyul will offer plenty of natural light, smart energy efficient systems, solar panelling, energy efficient water filtration systems, food waste programs and more.
“If there are any other emissions, we’ll offset those once the building’s operational and we understand what that looks like,” Becker says.
And like MCEC, Nyaal Banyul will procure locally from Geelong and the Bellarine primarily, or from regional Victoria and use suppliers who align with the centre’s sustainability practices.
In the kitchen, planners can expect to be delighted by a locally-sourced menu designed by executive chef Andreas Gober.
“Not only does he bring international, large-scale, Michelin Star aligned experience, his experience is absolutely incredible…he’s an incredibly creative and passionate local ambassador for us,” says Becker.
With approximately 100 events in the pipeline, equating to about 50,000 delegates, Becker says the excitement around the opening is so high, planners are asking to lock in events in July 2026, the month Nyaal Banyul is expected to open.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the market, and the construction is well and truly on time. We haven’t had any snags so far, which is wonderful.
“Obviously, this is going to have a huge community impact and we’re really focused on legacy and making sure we’re bringing in things that are going to leave a strong legacy for the area. That, and ensuring that storytelling, working with the Traditional Owners, is evident throughout the venue. It’s such an important thing to us.”
