Outlook // CCH

The New CCH – Congress Center Hamburg

More flexible, multifunctional, more modern, and more beautiful: the completely modernized CCH offers the perfect stage for large professional congresses, conferences, concerts, galas, and corporate events.

In Person or Hybrid: A Congress Center for Events of All Kinds

The construction work is making progress. Excitement for the reopening of CCH – Congress Center Hamburg is growing, along with the anticipation of welcoming the first in person guests, as soon as the pandemic allows it. Event organizers and visitors alike are yearning for in-person events where they can greet each other personally. The new CCH will make this possible, with plenty of space, expertise, and – as long as necessary – hygiene concepts and social distancing. The safety of customers, participants, and employees still has top priority.

Hybrid formats will also be realized professionally in addition to in-person events, because – in the era of digitization, globalization, modern working technologies, and a pandemic – these event formats are a welcome supplement that can increase an event’s national and international reach. For example, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Association of German Jurists held a forum on pandemic and law rather than their 73rd annual conference in Hamburg during the reporting year 2020. This was realized as a hybrid event on September 18 at the exhibition grounds in Hamburg and viewers could follow the goings-on via livestream. More than 5,000 participants had registered.

Location, Flexibility, Size

The new CCH – Congress Center Hamburg, with its unique location in the heart of Hamburg, is once again scoring points with its pioneering technology, flexibility, and size. And in terms of sustainability and accessibility. The total area is 36,000 square meters, And the number 12,000 is of particular significance: the exhibition area is 12,000 square meters, the foyer spaces are also 12,000 square meters, and a total of 12,000 visitors can gather at the same time in the CCH. The as many as 50 multifunction halls for congresses and events of all kinds are spread across four levels and three events areas (CCH-West, Central, and East). The rooms have the unbeatable advantage that nearly all of them can be reduced in size, partitioned, or expanded – depending on the customers’ wishes. The legendary Hall 1 alone – Hamburg’s largest hall with permanent seats and which is protected as a historical landmark – can offer seats for 3,000 visitors.

Congress Organizers and Medical Professionals at the CCH

One major success for Hamburg as a conference location came at the beginning of the year: in January 2023, the Associations & Conference Forum (AC Forum) will meet in Hamburg for the first time. This meeting of some of Europe’s most important congress organizers of medical and scientific associations comes with outstanding potential, in particular for international medical congresses: in total, the members of the AC Forum organize more than 75 recurring congresses with around 260 event days and over 320,000 participants. As part of a complex application process, CCH – Congress Center Hamburg and the Hamburg Convention Bureau together managed to bring the AC Forum to the Hanseatic city. Michael Westhagemann, Hamburg Senator of Economic Affairs and Innovation, had this to say: “The meeting of the most important congress organizers around the world offers Hamburg an excellent opportunity to present itself and the new Congress Center and to establish itself as a highly attractive locations for congresses of all kinds.” And Bernd Aufderheide, CEO of Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH, emphasizes: “The new CCH sets the bar in the international congress landscape and will provide the perfect setting for the international Associations & Conference Forum. We are very pleased that the new CCH will host the AC Forum at the beginning of 2023 – a top-notch event for and by medical and scientific associations at a cutting-edge event location.”

The entire event industry is still “flying blind.” In 2021 as well, many events will be heavily dependent upon the developments related to the coronavirus pandemic. A few major events have been postponed again to the following year due to the pandemic. The skilled CCH team under the leadership of Chief Operating Officer Heike Mahmoud is certainly ready for the time when events once again become possible. And the booking situation for years starting with 2022 is promising, as it reflects the diversity of the events possible in Hamburg: medical and scientific congresses, association events, corporate events, and balls.

To the CCH website