A performance by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli accompanied by the Maltese National Orchestra launched the new Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC) as a concert venue.

The show was attended by 7,500 people including Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, and President Edward Fenech Adami.

The new 27,000sq m MFCC venue was built by UK-based Arena Structures and is located on a purpose built site at the centre of the Island. It's the largest performance/convention/exhibition space in the country and the only indoor venue offering full production facilities to accommodate medium to large concerts, tours and shows.

It is intended to generate a whole new level of commercial fairs, concert, conference, corporate event and live music business in the country, attracting world class performers and leading destination management companies.

The structure is the brainchild of Ruben Caruana of Sign It, a leading Maltese event production company. He joined forces with Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd, a commercial fairs specialist in Malta, to form MFCC. Adrian Bajada, President of the Malta Federation of Industry was appointed chairman of the new company

Previously, large live concerts could only be staged during the summer months, when the weather could be guaranteed, and the largest available indoor venue could accommodate only 1500 people.

MFCC's capacity is 22,000 standing and 10,000 seated. It measures 150m long by 50 wide, has 17m of headroom and can withstand wind-speeds of up to 30 knots. It has been built complete with all the essentials like toilets, AC/heating, dressing rooms, foyer, bar and FOH facilities, plus two main entrances.

The floorspace can also be laid out for gala dinner events or sectioned off for seminars and workshops. Stage size is variable; for Bocelli the dimensions were 60m wide by 20 deep.

The venue is the same structure that served as the temporary replacement for Wembley Arena during its year long refurbishment in 2005/06. It took just 8 weeks from levelling the ground and laying the foundations for MFCC to be fully erected and hosting its first full European corporate event, for holiday company Thomas Cook.

Several modifications have been made to the original build. Primarily the addition of three load-bearing steel structural arches which are movable along the length of the venue. These take up to 35 tonnes each and can be used for rigging lighting, video audio and other production elements. This also gives them the flexibility to build a stage in any position and orientation in the venue.

Caruana says: “We are primarily targeting the conference, convention and event business. There's a whole raft of 5-star hotels that have opened on the Island over the last two years and with MFCC, all the infrastructure is now in place for Malta to become a leading European conference destination.”