The NewMilan

Fair Complex
2001-05
Ideas and actions
The transformation of the Milanese fair system has given rise to two
great projects: the creation of the New Milan Fair Complex and the
redevelopment of the historical fair district. These projects are intensively
changing the geography of the north-west area of Milan, intervening in the
territory with great reverence and attributing it with value, whilst respecting
the established times and costs. The transfer of the traditional Fair meets
two strong necessities: the first regards the market, because the Milan Fair
needed a more ample and functional area to be able to compete with other
European fair systems; the second concerns its liveability, the Fair had been
congested by traffic caused by fair manifestations for far too long.
The construction project for the new exhibition system underwent great
acceleration in 2000, when Ente Autonomo Fiera Internazionale di Milano
became the private entity Fondazione Fiera Milano. In fact it is Fondazione
Fiera Milano that has guided this complex project in collaboration with
the institutions – the Lombardy Region, the Province of Milan, the City
of Milan and the Towns of Rho and Pero – with whom strong synergies
concerning aims and objectives were immediately established.
Construct a new fair complex in only thirty
months, respecting times and costs and
guaranteeing maximum profit? At the
beginning this seemed to be a utopia; no
one, apart from us, thought that it could be
possible. It is most definitely easier to reason
using commonplace, preconceptions and
recent history. But if only for a moment one
shifts from known to ideas even a project
as grand as this will become possible.
The New Milan Fair Complex was
constructed in thirty months, from now
on this will be the starting point for future
history, the new “commonplace” to base
the foundations for other great projects.
 2001
Fondazione Fiera Milano’s first step in transforming the Mi
foundation of Sviluppo Sistema Fiera, the engineering and
for large projects. The area chosen to build the New Comp
in Rho-Pero, an area contaminated for more than forty ye
Milano bought from Agip with the guarantee that the recla
be carried out with the respect for the scheduled times for
of the New Fair Structure. Fondazione Fiera Milano’s comp
investment for the construction of the new fair structure th
of 2 million squared metres and will have a gross area of 5
is approximately 750 million Euros, including the acquisitio
To establish which companies would be entrusted with the
the New Complex, an international tender based on a com
in Italy at this time was utilised: the general contractor mo

The New Fiera Milan Complex

6th of October 2002 work began
approximately 750 million Euros total investment completely auto-financed
2 million squared metres of land area
530 thousand squared metres of gross floor space
8 pavilions: 4 one-storey structures, 2 non-conventional one-storey structures
and 2 two-storey structures
60 thousand squared metres of outdoor exhibition spaces
1.3 kilometres along the central axis
9 thousand tons of glass and steel
20 thousand car parking spaces
180 thousand squared metres of area destined for public greenery
2,500 trees
9,000 people have worked on the project during these months
2,000 people working together at one time
62 countries
405,000 minutes
6,750 hours
900 days
30 months
to consign the project on the 31st of March 2005.
 ilan Fair was the
d contracting company
plex was the ex-refinery
ears that Fondazione Fiera
amation process would
r the realisation
pletely auto-financed
hat will cover an area
530.000 squared metres,
on of the area.
e construction of
mpletely new contract
odel.

2002Five networks participated in the tender and the consortium NPF, made up of the companies
Astaldi, Impresa Pizzarotti & C. and Vianini Lavori, signed the “key-in-hand” contract for the
construction of the New Complex with Sviluppo Sistema Fiera. The consortium is responsible for
the entire project, from the planning and carrying out of the work, to the completion and
maintenance of the installations for the first five years. The design of the next fair structure is by
the architect Massimiliano Fuksas. The first stone was laid on the 6th of October. At the end of the
month the tender for the parking facilities was published, again based on the general contractor
model and project financing scheme. At the end of the year the reclamation of the ground’s first
lot of land was completed. It was promised that the work would be consigned within 30 months.
The short distance from Malpensa international airport, the high-speed railway line, the motorway
network and the line one of the underground, guarantee that the position of the New Complex is in a
strategic point that is strongly connected to European thruways. To make the new fair structure really
functional, the complete efficiency of its access and connections was therefore indispensable - for this
a global investment of 800 million Euros was allocated by the Government and the Lombardy Region. In
January the Milanese underground started work on extending to the entrance of the New Complex and
the infrastructures project for viability was approved. On the first of August the group of companies
headed by Codelfa won the competition for the assignment of car parks: the project is by the architect
Mario Bellini and foresees 10,000 car parking spaces. The New Complex’s first pillar was erected on the
23rd of April at 3pm in the afternoon and the count down to the conclusion of the work, scheduled for the
end of March 2005, began. In December the Province of Milan certified the definitive reclamation of the
Rho-Pero site and the next day a cover made from 9 thousand tons of steel and glass began to be laid
across the central axis: the sail, the symbol of the New Complex. More than 1,800 workmen and 150
technicians were working on the site, numbers destined to increase as the workload intensified.

2003

The construction site was opened in order to access the

New Complex and the first manifestations of interest for hotels
in the Rho-Pero area were demonstrated. In fact the new fair
project contemplates many different structures for free time
ideated to make the structure lively 24 hours a day. In January
the progress of the work was 42% to completion and already
in August it exceeded 70%. On the 30th of October, five weeks
early, the first two pavilions were completed and handed over.
At the end of the year the progress of the work exceeded 90%:
the skyline of the New Complex at this point was now visible and
the Service Centre was ready to host the Christmas Mass for the
territory, where more than a thousand people participated

2004
2005 The site proceeds respecting its programme and the people that
have worked on constructing this great project, prepare to consign
the work within the scheduled thirty months. During the last week
of March the New Complex will be inaugurated with two exhibitions:
Progetto Città (City Project) and Expo Italia Real Estate. How was
all of this possible in such a short amount of time? Most certainly
thanks to intelligent choiches, ideas and circumstances, but mostly
thanks to the important team work carried out. That is, the capacity
to create strong cohesions between people, companies and
the institutions, to create a great project that is shared and felt
strongly towards, for the service of the Country.
Sviluppo Sistema Fiera Spa
Largo Domodossola 1
20145 Milano - Italia
www.nuovosistemafieramilano.it

Fondazione Fiera Milano

Largo Domodossola 1
20145 Milano - Italia
www.fondazionefieramilano.it