The Estrel Congress Center is undergoing expansion

The new Estrel Auditorium is scheduled to open in January 2021 - The Estrel Congress Center changes its name to ECC

This year, in response to an increased demand for additional event space, the Estrel Berlin has begun work on a new extension. Upon completion of the adjoining Estrel Auditorium, the Estrel Congress Center complex with a total of 28.500 sqm will be even larger than Berlin's former International Congress Center, which closed in 2014. Its new status as one of Germany's top-tier conference centres calls for a name that states this loud and clear: Welcome to the ECC.

Since opening its doors in 1994, Estrel Berlin has reinvented itself time and again. Initially arriving on the scene as Germany's largest hotel, the Estrel went on to add its own cabaret-style show theatre just three years later, followed by emerging as an internationally-renowned conference location with the construction of its Congress Center in 1999. A new extension is currently in the pipeline that will increase the current 25,000 sqm of event space in the Estrel Congress Center by an additional 3,500 sqm.

Light-filled spaces, foyers and bar areas and, at the heart of this new development, a stunning, multi-level, glass-ceilinged auditorium with seating for 900 guests. The new Estrel Auditorium facility is a highly-anticipated addition to the Estrel's extensive range of event spaces. The open-plan design of this two-storey venue creates an airy, harmonious and inviting ambiance. Built in response to an increase in demand for workshop, seminar and meeting spaces, the location will house eleven rooms of varying sizes, some of which with capacity for up to 140 people, and all equipped with the latest in event technology. Kitchens, storage space for technical equipment and supplies as well as vehicle delivery bays will be located on the ground floor, enabling seemless conference and convention orchestration. The extension will be accessible via various entrances from the Estrel Congress Center as well as its own entrance on Ziegrastrasse.

Starting in autumn, the Estrel Congress Center will officially be known as the "ECC". This move reflects the venue's 20 years of steady growth that have resulted in it being Berlin's leading convention centre. For the Estrel's Managing Directors, Ute Jacobs and Thomas Brückner, it's about time: "Since it opened, the Estrel Berlin has shifted from being Germany's largest hotel with conference rooms to an internationally-renowned convention location with an adjoining hotel," says Jacobs. "The coming years will see the Congress Center become an even more major global player. By renaming the Congress Center "ECC", we want to enhance our reach in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector."

- Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) -