The War Memorial Centre at 48 Marine Parade, Napier, is Hawke's Bay's purpose-built conference venue, operated as Napier Conferences & Events. It sits directly on Marine Parade with an open outlook over the Pacific, roughly five minutes' walk from Napier's Art Deco city centre, and is built to handle everything from a 14-person board meeting to a multi-day conference of several hundred delegates.
The Napier War Memorial Hall opened on Marine Parade on 14 July 1957, designed by local architect Guy Natusch. The original building incorporated a conference hall, a restaurant and an aquarium, along with a memorial bay displaying a roll of honour recording the names of 300 former residents of Napier Borough who died during the Second World War.
The facility was rebuilt in 1995 and rededicated as the Napier War Memorial Conference Centre on 30 September 1995. A new First World War roll of honour was added — the town's original had been destroyed in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake — further names were added to the Second World War roll to cover the wider Napier City area, plaques were installed acknowledging service in post-war conflicts, and the perpetual flame was relit. After a period in which the memorial elements were removed and stored, they were returned to the original site and the refurbished memorial was rededicated on 6 August 2023.
The venue's principal function space, the Natusch Ballroom, carries the name of the building's original architect.
The centre has multi-use spaces across two levels that can be run separately or combined:
| Space | Floor area | Max capacity | Typical use | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Natusch Ballroom | 520 m² | 450 | Large conferences, meetings, exhibitions, gala dinners | | Large Exhibition Hall | 275 m² | 250 | Trade shows, exhibitions, special events, dinners | | Small Exhibition Hall | 150 m² | 120 | Breakouts, luncheons, trade displays, presentations | | Gallery | 100 m² | 100 | Networking, beverage service, catering | | Breakout Room 1 | 100 m² | 50 | Presentations, training, seminars, workshops | | Breakout Room 2 | 150 m² | 100 | Presentations, training, seminars, workshops | | Boardroom | 40 m² | 14 | Meetings, interviews, video conferencing | | Foyer | 190 m² | — | Registration, networking, premium exhibition | | Forecourt | 230 m² | — | Coffee carts, food trucks, alfresco dining, branding |
The ground floor offers four spaces plus the foyer and forecourt, with a maximum capacity of 900 attendees. The lower level holds three spaces — the boardroom and two breakout rooms — with a maximum of 150 attendees, and is set up for workshop-style programmes.
Catering is delivered with culinary partner Dish, drawing on Hawke's Bay produce. Published menus cover morning and afternoon tea (with Dilmah teas and locally roasted Hawthorne coffee), working lunches and hot buffets, and dinner service running from canapés through to plated menus or buffet with chef's petit fours. Reflecting Hawke's Bay's place in the Great Wine Capitals network, all wines served are sourced exclusively from the region. The venue maintains its own AV and technical resource, including a senior venue technician on staff.
Napier Conferences & Events runs an in-house planning team with long tenure at the venue — several planners have been with the centre for a decade or more, and one senior planner with strong ties to local iwi assists clients wishing to incorporate meaningful Māori elements into their programmes. Enquiries are taken on +64 6 835 9001.
The Marine Parade position gives an uninterrupted ocean vista and abundant natural light in the function spaces — a point clients have specifically noted — with Napier's Art Deco centre, restaurants and attractions a short walk away.
For organisers, the War Memorial Centre is the anchor conference venue for Hawke's Bay: scalable capacity to 900 across the ground floor, dedicated breakout and boardroom space below, in-house catering and AV, and a beachfront CBD location that works equally well for association conferences, gala dinners, trade exhibitions, incentive programmes and corporate meetings.
Capacity
No spaces listed for this property yet.
Nearby listings on the MICE record — indicative only, not a recommendation unless marked Featured.