Dubai Expo 2020 site to become conference, office space

The venue for Dubai Expo 2020 will be transformed into a conference space and offices after the event, under legacy plans revealed yesterday.

Marjan Faraidooni, Expo 2020’s vice president of legacy, said the event’s 4.38 square kilometre site would become an ecosystem that connects businesses in the transport and logistics, travel and tourism, real estate and education sectors.

She said that more than 80 per cent of investments in the site would be retained following the event, including the infrastructure, roads and public transport systems put in place.

Under the plans, the expo’s conference and exhibition centre will become a major event venue operated by Dubai World Trade Centre, while more than 200,000 square metres of country pavilions will also be reused as collaborative work spaces to house companies and other institutions.

Elsewhere, two of the UAE’s three pavilions will be converted into learning centres, with the Mobility Pavilion becoming an educational institution focused on logistics and the Sustainability Pavilion becoming a science centre.

“We have dedicated considerable effort towards identifying how we could develop a place that will continue to attract everyone: businesses, students, and workers. It will be a place where people will continue to learn and benefit from the plans and investment being made now,” she noted.

Expo officials believe that the merging of industries with related technologies will create a centre of excellence that draws in other related companies, enabling wider collaborations and innovations at the site, according to state news agency WAM.