The public are being invited to have their say on plans to build a world class exhibition centre and hotel on Liverpool's waterfront.

Plans for the new £40 million Exhibition Centre Liverpool (ECL) will be unveiled at a pre-planning application consultation on 8 and 9 February.

The consultation, at ACC Liverpool, will give people the opportunity to drop in, see an outline of the plans and submit questions.

It comes ahead of the submission of the official planning application, in February, for the 8,100 sqm, three-hall exhibition centre and the 200-room hotel.

The ambitious development at Kings Dock, which will form part of ACC Liverpool, home to BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena, will include three halls which will each be 2,700 sqm and will be separated by movable walls. It will also feature an atrium, meeting rooms and a business centre.

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The facility will be capable of hosting trade and consumer exhibitions, concerts and sports events on a national and international scale. It will also include an integrated, upscale hotel which will be developed by the city council. The council is currently seeking an operator to manage the hotel.

People will be able to view displays of the plans and forms will be available for people to leave written feedback.

International construction company ISG – responsible for the construction of the 6,000 seat London 2012 Velodrome – was appointed last October to deliver the scheme. Denton Corker Marshall, who designed the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, was appointed as architect in December.

The arrival of Exhibition Centre Liverpool will increase the existing 7,125 sqm of exhibition space at ACC Liverpool to 15,225 sqm of integrated and flexible event space. It will be directly connected to the existing facilities at ACC Liverpool, via a covered bridge link, making the venue the only purpose-built interconnected arena, convention and exhibition centre in Europe.

The city council is also moving forward with its plans to deliver a hotel as part of the development. A procurement process is now underway to identify an appropriate hotel partner to work with the council and ACC Liverpool.

Construction of the new facilities is set to commence in autumn 2013 and opens for business in 2015.