Dhahran Expo

Dhahran Expo sits on Exhibition Road in Dammam, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, on a site positioned between Dammam, Khobar and Dhahran so that all three city centres are about ten minutes away by car. It is the Eastern Province's principal exhibition ground, and that is its significance: the province holds most of the kingdom's oil production and its industrial supply chain, and Dhahran Expo is where that supply chain meets its suppliers, with the venue's calendar dominated by oil, gas, construction, industrial and consumer fairs. The centre contains four exhibition halls of 3,600 sq m each, 60 m by 60 m, giving 14,400 sq m of indoor space; halls 1 and 2 are joined by two 14 m movable doors that open to a single 7,200 sq m room (120 m by 60 m) with 8 m clear height, while halls 3 and 4 form an obstacle-free 7,200 sq m space at 10.8 m clear height, with 11.3 m to the roof. Floors are rated at 2 tonnes per sq m, rigging points run from 112 at 100 kg each in halls 1 and 2 to 147 at 300 kg in halls 3 and 4, and under-floor trenches deliver power, water and compressed air at 5 bar. The wider site covers about 100,000 sq m and includes the Emerald Banquet Hall. Architecturally the halls are utilitarian, flat-roofed sheds with deep service yards, which is exactly what heavy machinery exhibitors need. Transport is strong: King Fahd International Airport is 35 km away, the King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain is about 30 minutes, the railway station is ten minutes off, and Riyadh is roughly 3.5 hours by road or four by train.