Construction continues on the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) expansion project but when it is finally open, visitors will notice something missing – columns. Bhiraj Buri Group, the project’s developer, leveraged global expertise to help it overcome some of the unique engineering challenges it faced.
Bhiraj Buri enlisted Aurecon, an engineering consultancy responsible for overcoming design challenges in special structures around the world, to help them solve some of the design issues. The developer wanted the main hall of the BITEC building expansion to be column-free so it could host world tour concerts, lifestyle events and large scale international exhibitions.
“Creating such a vast column-free space – almost 9,000 sqm. in total – is very challenging. We also had to ensure that the roof had durable strength for heavy loading to be able to support BITEC operations,” Thiti Ariyakul, project director, Aurecon Consulting (Thailand), said in a press release. “To do this, we had to create the longest cable-stayed Super Truss framework in Thailand. This was a tremendous effort using the global experience of Aurecon but with designs from Thai engineers and implementation from Thai contractors. We are very proud of this solution.”
BITEC’s total exhibition space will increase to 70,000 sqm. thanks to this innovation and Bhiraj Buri wants it to become one of Asia’s best exhibition and convention spaces. Three new exhibition halls, three new convention halls and 12 new meeting rooms as well as a host of additional business facilities, retail spaces and dining outlets will be constructed as part of the expansion.
“The expanded facility will support ASEAN’s growing MICE industry and improve our ability to help our customers in order to build important corporate connections through hosting meetings and extensive multi-day exhibitions as well as accommodating one-off music concerts by international superstars,” Prasarn Bhiraj Buri, president & CEO of Bhiraj Buri proclaimed. “With the additional facilities, BITEC will be in a better position to meet the demand of MICE organizers and key players in the industry.”
