Messe Frankfurt Plans Expansion

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 4/4/2005

Messe Frankfurt has bought a 25-acre marshalling yard in downtown Frankfurt that it plans to use for an expansion and renovation of its current exhibition center. The expansion, which will include the demolition of one 40-year-old exhibition hall and the construction of four new ones in the next decade, is part of a larger urban development project.

Construction on the first new exhibit hall will begin next year and be completed by winter 2008. In 2009, the current Hall 6 will be demolished to make way for a new hall with two floors. A third and fourth exhibition hall will be completed by 2010, and there is room for additional exhibition space beyond that.

Currently, the fairground consists of 476,000 square meters (5.1 million square feet) of exhibit space. Markus Quint, a spokesman for Messe Frankfurt, said the increase in exhibit space will be marginal. However, he said, given what appears to be a growing overcapacity of exhibition space worldwide, it is important that Messe Frankfurt improve the quality of its space and infrastructure.