The work on completing the new hall complex for the Basel Exhibition is running on schedule. The Watch and Jewellery Show BaselWorld will be opening its doors punctually, as planned, on April 25, 2013. At the moment, the facade is being mounted and the interior fittings installed in what is now Europe’s most modern exhibition infrastructure.

The building shell of the impressive new hall complex designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron was finished in September 2012. Work is now in full swing on fitting out the interior of the 32-metre-high complex. The exceptional facade will be fully in place by the end of the year. For BaselWorld 2013, Hall 1 will thus be extended to a length of 420 metres on three exhibition storeys, giving 141,000 m2 exhibition infrastructure of the very highest quality. A total of CHF 430 million has been invested in this project. The joined-up exhibition surfaces in the new halls make the exhibition site more compact and hence also ensure greater comfort and convenience for the visitors to BaselWorld.

The Basel Exhibition Centre, November 2012

Since BaselWorld 2012, the old halls have been demolished and a total of 3500 tons of steel girders, 45,000 m3 of concrete and 5,200 tons of reinforcing steel have gone into the new complex. At times, up to eight fixed construction cranes and a further eight mobile cranes have been deployed on the construction site.

The new building complex is being handed over to the MCH Group, as its owner, on February 8, 2013. Following this, work will commence on assembling the spectacular stands for BaselWorld 2013. The immense dimensions of the halls and the new stands will provide a splendid setting for the presentation of product innovations. This will further underline the uniqueness of the World Watch and Jewellery Show and its significance as the most important industry event.

Source: BaselWorld