"Auckland is a fantastic city to be in, the weather has turned it on today, there is no better city in the world when the weather is like this. The fastest growing city in Australasia, tourism is a fast growing industry, we're in a great location in Asia and Southeast Asia, Auckland Airport is doing a fantastic job bringing in more flights and more airlines, so we are very excited about the potential of tourism in New Zealand, in Auckland and the success of the convention centre going forward.
"It will contribute no doubt, I believe, many more millions that the $90 million that's been nominated in the past."
Mr Adamson also started his speech with a joke, saying his ears were still ringing after the ACDC concert in Western Springs last night: "So if you want a discount Nigel, no comprende, I can't hear you this morning."
It was a "very proud day" for Fletcher Building, he said.
"This will become a gateway for many people visiting New Zealand, they will come for the convention and hopefully then we'll see them moving throughout New Zealand and take their many hundreds of millions of dollars and impact the economy way beyond just Auckland itself."
The company had committed to start construction of the $700 million project before Christmas, and Mr Adamson said it had "made it by a few days".
Mr Adamson also promised to avoid as much disruption as possible in the city -- citing traffic flow, noise and dust as concerns -- during the 35-month construction period, which will also see the Downtown shopping centre redevelopment and work at the Viaduct under way at the same time.
"We think we've got a good and rigorous plan to make sure that this very vibrant city continues to flow in the next 35 months."
He also said "tight deadlines are what we're about", promising to finish the build on schedule.
An estimated 1000 jobs will be created onsite during the build plus an extra 2000 jobs in associated industries flowing on from the construction project, according to Fletcher Construction.
Despite reports of a skilled trades shortage in New Zealand, Mr Adamson said he was confident the company could secure enough workers to get the job done.
"I think we've got a decent track record of being able to ramp up in terms of the volume of work and the number of people we need to do it," he said. "A recent example is Christchurch where, unlike this city where Nigel has mentioned a six- or seven-year lead time to prepare, nobody prepared for an earthquake, and within a few months we had 800 workers full time and we were managing 19,000 contractors on many building sites across Christchurch.
"So, we've got experience in doing that, this has been long in the planning, this and the other work we have in Auckland, so we're fairly confident that we'll be able to do that, and we're excited about being able to bring new apprenticeships through and train the industry leaders of the future."
Fletcher would recruit principally throughout New Zealand, he said, but "to the extent there are skills we need abroad, we will look to take those from abroad as well".
Fletcher would also employ workers and take on "quite a high number of apprentices" from across New Zealand, Mr Adamson said.
"We work with limited service volunteers and we have many programmes in place to make sure there's a longer legacy of this building, not just in terms of the economy, but in terms of the skills that we will grow over the next 35 months, and how those skills are subsequently deployed throughout the rest of New Zealand."
SkyCity would also be taking on "a lot of apprentices in a lot of different areas", Mr Morrison said.
"By the time this comes on stream in 2019 we'll certainly be able to fill the hospitality side of the roles, and it would be great to see hospitality become more of a mainstream career for people.
"I think we'll work hard over the next few years to see what we can do to enhance the training, enhance the credentials of hospitality workers so people who enter hospitality feel more like they're entering a career like they do in the US or Europe."
CONVENTION CENTRE FACTBOX:
• What: A 32,000sq m convention centre and five-star, 300-bedroom hotel to be built on Auckland's Hobson St, including a retail laneway spanning Nelson St and Hobson St, with retail, restaurants and bars.
• Cost: $700 million.
• Number of buildings to be demolished: 16
• Three construction phases: Demolition of existing buildings on the central city site; excavation to lay foundations for the centre and 1327-space underground carpark; construction of the New Zealand International Convention Centre and Hobson St hotel.
• Completion date: Early to mid-2019.
