Client projects: Västerås Kongress

A complete solution for meetings with high demands

Greater opportunities for remote meetings have increased the demands on physical meeting places. When Västerås Kongress underwent a total renovation, owner Elite Hotels turned to Kinnarps to create a complete interior design solution. “It was about having a partner who can deliver high quality and flexible products, but also large volumes,” says Site Manager Anders Karlsson.

 The congress facility in Västerås closed during the pandemic and was taken over by Elite Hotels, which also operates the Conventum meeting arena in Örebro. Extensive renovation work began, and in August 2023 Västerås Kongress could be officially reopened. Now a state-of-the-art, 10,000-square metre meeting centre with space for everything from congresses, events and entertainment to work meetings, conferences and trade fairs.

“One of the challenges was that we have so many premises for different needs and with different capacities, from meetings with a few people to large events for a thousand people. Now we’ve created a whole that is visually coherent and meets all our practical requirements, preferences and visions. Of course, there are tables and seating furniture that can withstand the tough demands when it comes to wear and tear, but we’ve also spent a lot of time choosing fabrics for curtains, to strike the right balance between ambient light and blackout requirements that works for the presentation technology used in our conference rooms,” says Anders Karlsson. He has been working at Conventum for almost 20 years and has good experience of Kinnarps from there. So for him it was natural to turn to Kinnarps once more for this new project.

“We enjoy really good collaboration in Örebro, and Västerås Congress is a wide-ranging project that required a partner with whom we could work closely. We’ve had an open and transparent dialogue throughout the process, and really worked together to achieve the best results,” he says.

Good planning yielded successful results

For Västerås Kongress, it was crucial that Kinnarps could deliver a total solution to enable the project to run efficiently. Anders Karlsson also emphasises the importance of preparing well in advance and having peace of mind about the delivery. There is a high level of wear and tear in these environments, which is why it was also an important factor that Kinnarps’ furniture is of high quality and can be easily renovated and updated if necessary.

“For example, we bought 600 conference chairs, which is both a large volume and a major investment, so everything really had to be right in terms of capacity, quality and logistics. You can’t do that at the last minute or without a sound plan. We had a reference group who tried out the chairs, and chose the most suitable one in terms of comfort, ease of use and appearance.” The choice for the banqueting hall was 1,000 chairs of the same model that has been used at Conventum in Örebro for 20 years: the Adam chair from Materia. “We knew how well it works, so it was an easy choice,” says Anders Karlsson.

Flexible solutions make rearranging easy

“Our business is based on constantly re-furnishing for different groups and seating arrangements, so our interior design must be easy to handle and move,” says Anders Karlsson. He confirms that the meeting industry has recovered from the pandemic, and that the past few years have broken records. “On the other hand, it’s clear that the demands being placed on meeting places have become more exacting, as digital meeting solutions have become both simpler and more common. If you want to meet in person, everything has to be the very highest quality, not least the interior design, of course. We’ve raised our standards there, and offer top-class solutions with the support of Kinnarps."