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Ensuing emergency meetings held over the weekend, the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) board of directors decided to cancel its annual conference and business meetings in San Diego, Calif., which were scheduled from March 15 to 18.
“The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of cancelling the events, with the overriding objective to protect you—our delegates, staff, and the association—from risks associated with the coronavirus,” CCA said. “This was not an easy decision and we are all disappointed that we will not be able to get together and celebrate the industry as usual this year.”
Following recent reports of six cases of coronavirus in the Houston, Tex., area, the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) International has postponed its annual Corrosion 2020 conference and expo from March 15 to 19 to June 14 to 18.
“Postponing our conference was a difficult decision, but after consulting with several industry members and convening our board of directors, we believe it is the right thing to do,” said Bob Chalker, NACE International CEO. “We determined the best way to protect the health and safety of our attendees, speakers, and exhibitors is to postpone our annual conference.”
The Biennale Architettura 2020, to be held in Venice (Giardini and Arsenale), Italy, has also been postponed to August 29 through November 29 instead of May 23 to November 29, as a precautionary measure for the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The new dates for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition titled How will we live together? correspond to travel restrictions and advisories posed by a growing number of countries, which will have a domino effect on the movement of people and works in the coming weeks.
“This period of time coincides with the delicate initial phase of setting up an international exhibition as complex as the Biennale Architettura, which involves architects and institutions from over 60 countries on all continents,” said La Biennale di Venezia. “This situation poses a risk to the realization of the exhibition in its entirety in time for the announced opening date (May 23), thereby jeopardizing its quality.”
Further, they said a short-term postponement could be ineffective, considering the complexity of the organizational machine, the number and importance of the subjects involved, and the probable absence of many of them.
Unwilling to open an incomplete exhibition, La Biennale, having heard the curator Hashim Sarkis and in consideration of the difficulties faced by the participating countries and invited architects, has decided to postpone the inauguration until August 29, limiting this year’s edition to just three months.
