As the clock passed twelve on New Year's Eve, Visit Karlstad took over the operation of the brand new Karlstad Congress Culture Centre (Karlstad CCC) in Sweden. When the keys where handed over a new story began. The first chapter is written in January when the new center will be inaugurated and welcomes its first guests.

– This, we have been longing for! After months of work and planning, the activity can finally get started. Now we will show that Karlstad CCC is a beautiful, modern facility and one of the best meeting places in Europe, says Mattias Nord, President, Visit Karlstad.

More than 40 million Euros has been invested in building Karlstad CCC. But then it is one of the largest and most modern congress and cultural centers in the Nordic. And the interest has been great. A number of large congresses, conferences and concerts are already booked.

– The great interest shows that Karlstad CCC are both eagerly awaited and demanded. I am convinced that this unique building will mean a lot of good things for meetings between people, companies and organizations, says Sture Emanuelsson, project manager at KB Möteplatsen and one if the initiators.

Karlstad CCC is now one of Scandinavia's largest congress and cultural centers. The large conference hall holds up to 1600 people. There are also 17 conference rooms of varying sizes, and a restaurant with a capacity of 1200 seated guests, beautifully situated at the Klarälven River.

Karlstad CCC is operated by Visit Karlstad, which has the task to coordinate and develop Karlstad’s attractiveness as a congress and conference city. Visit Karlstad is owned by the municipality of Karlstad (49 percent) and local businesses (51 percent).

Photo: Mattias Nord receives the keys to Karlstad CCC by (from left) Ulf Bemler, Construction Manager at Byggbolaget, Sture Emanuelsson, project manager at KB Möteplatsen and Håkan Broström, project leader at WSP.