Unlock the future of events
Home to more than 30,000 venues, 37 convention centres and 30 international airports, the UK has a legacy in innovation, creativity and varied sector expertise, including health science, technology and finance. With contemporary and innovative infrastructure and the experience on delivering domestic and international events, the UK continues to evolve and surprise even the most seasoned of delegates.
And with all remaining travel restrictions being lifted from the 18 March 2022, venues and destinations across the UK are looking towards the future and getting ready to shape the future of events.
Take a look at these five leading destinations that will be offering something new for planners to enjoy in the UK:
Aberdeen, Scotland
With a new redevelopment plan recently approved, the Scottish destination of Aberdeen will undergo a £150 million transformation to revitalise its city centre. The ongoing project will create an open, accessible beachfront as well as a major new Aberdeen Market that will include international-style food and drink outlets.
This ongoing investment follows the 2019 opening of Aberdeen’s international convention centre (ICC), P&J Live. With sustainability at its core, this new venue uses food and garden waste from around Aberdeen to produce heating, cooling and power to the entire event campus. The venue, which achieved an excellent rating in BREEAM – a widely recognised sustainability assessment method – has a 10,000-capacity arena and 48,000 sqm exhibition area. The complex also has two on-site hotels, a 200-bedroom Hilton and 150-bedroom Aloft, coffee shop, restaurant and bars.
All this combined with its first-class accessibility options, accommodation facilities and ongoing investment, means Aberdeen will play proud host to a number of domestic and global conferences and events in 2022, welcoming The International Crane And Lifting, SPE International Oilfield Scale, British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis, The British Society of Prosthodontics and The Association of Surgeons in Training to name a few. Besides the outstanding event infrastructure, Aberdeen offer delegates a proper Scottish welcome, showcasing the best of its unique cultural experiences, including traditional Scottish gastronomic delights and one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland.
Blackpool, North England
Discover Blackpool, the most visited seaside destination in the UK which has undergone over £500 million of investment in the town’s infrastructure, resulting in a vibrant conference and meetings destination that can offer unforgettable experiences for planners and delegates alike.
The coastal towns’ new conference and exhibition centre, located in the historical Blackpool Winter Gardens, opened in March 2022. The purpose-built complex offers over 2,400sqm of dedicated meetings and event space and can host up to 1,600 delegates across its two floors. As it is seamlessly integrated into the Winter Gardens complex, the venue in its entirety has the ability to host up to 7,000 delegates if used in conjunction with other spaces including the newly refurbished Empress Ballroom and Opera House. The venue will welcome the Conservative Party’s Spring Forum this year.
Blackpool will also gain two brand-new hotels by the second semester as part of its wider regeneration project. The Sands Venue Resort Hotel Blackpool will be the first 5-star hotel in the city. Located along the seafront, the hotel will offer contemporary event spaces as well as the largest penthouse suite outside London. Additionally, the new space will offer 92 state-of-the-art suites and rooms, a sumptuous spa and two-rosette dining facilities with panoramic views.
Birmingham, Central England
With a wealth of innovative projects and events, Birmingham always has something new to offer the conference and events industry. Besides the new Creative Content Hub – a 4,600sqm campus facility for independent TV production and creative content developers – the city located in the very heart of the UK is also going through a huge redevelopment project to get ready to host the Commonwealth Games, the largest multi-sport competition to be held in England in the last 10 years. As part of this project, the renowned Alexander Stadium will be transformed to offer a permanent capacity of around 18,000 seats and will become the largest facility in the UK that is able to host major athletic events.
On top of this, NEC Birmingham, that is already the UK’s largest event space, is expanding its already impressive portfolio to include a 14,000sqm new outdoor event facility and over 35,000sqm of new commercial space, a hotel, restaurants and cafes. Home to the Resorts World Arena, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and the Vox Conference Venue, the complex will host in 2022 a series of national and global tradeshows and events, including the Air-Tech Exhibition, Med-Tech Innovation Expo, World Biogas Summit 2022 and Vehicle Electrification Expo and Conference.
Recently, the NEC has invested a further £7m in improving technology infrastructure. Besides creating 1,800 new Wi-Fi access points, the venue was the first in the UK to adopt WaitTime – an artificial intelligence solution that shows venue capacity and crowd density in real-time. The new measures will increase delegates’ engagement during events as well as maximising operational efficiencies, creating a better experience for both event planners and delegates alike.
The NEC will be further enhanced by its connection to the cities new high-speed railway station, part of the government’s £96bn rail programme that aims to cut journey times and increase capacity. Expected to open in 2026, it will become the first railway station in the world to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification.
From supporting bidding processes and preparing proposals to running events in the region, the Birmingham and the West Midlands Convention Bureau has recently launched its Conference Ambassador Network. The initiative aims to drive more international events into the region, reinforce the region’s international reputation in academic research and business and showcase its sector strengths, which include medtech, tourism, and business and professional and financial services.
NewcastleGateshead, North England
Linked by seven bridges, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead will welcome a brand-new international convention centre in 2024.
Located at Gateshead quayside with a view over Newcastle, The Sage will offer 2,800sqm of flexible meeting space, 6,300sqm of exhibition space and a 12,500-seat arena as well as two brand-new on-site hotels and multiple dining options. Heated and powered by urban solar parks and naturally heated local mine water, The Sage will also support local charities and provide special access passes to people from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Aside from the ongoing development of the city’s new convention centre, the northern destination also welcomed two new venue options in 2020. The Catalyst and the Frederick Douglass Centre are both part of Newcastle Helix, the national innovation centre that combines academia, business and the local community to develop data, urban and life science. Home to the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and National Innovation Centre for Data, The Catalyst offers five meeting rooms, a 173-seat bespoke theatre and four flexible meeting spaces. The Frederick Douglass Centre, on the other hand, has a number of smaller seminar spaces as well as a multi-purpose 750-seater auditorium, with the flexibility to be divided into two lecture theatres.
Additionally, Newcastle will gain a new five-star hotel in 2023. Located on a former fire station, the £11.5m conversion will comprise a 60-bed hotel with a restaurant, bar, and pavement cafe.
Besides the iconic cityscape, vibrant atmosphere and fresh developments coming to the city, 35 event venues, from hotel chains to historic buildings, across Newcastle and Gateshead have joined forces to further support the business events industry in the region following the pandemic. NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI) in collaboration with Meetings Industry Association (MIA), launched the ‘Tyne To Get Back To Business’, that put together the 35 venues awarded with the AIM Secure accreditation, a Government-recognised quality standard that ensures that venues with this accreditation comply to 24 very specific health and safety protocols.
This new initiative alongside ongoing investment to not only the city centre but the wider region itself, makes NewcasteGateshead a leading choice to host future conferences and events.
London, South England
The vibrant and dynamic capital of England, London always has new developments to impress and surprise delegates and event planners.
One of the city’s most famous venue options, The ExCeL London recently announced that it will be expanding its conference and events facilities by 25 per cent. With a strong reputation for delivering high-quality international events, the ExCel’s redevelopment project is expected to be completed by 2024 and will integrate an additional 12,000sqm of exhibition space on the ground floor with plans also including a high-end convention facility, meeting rooms and catering space.
The venue, that will host in 2022 major relevant association events, including the Shoptalk Europe, International Liver Congress, The Meetings Show, Advanced Therapies, FIREX International and eCommerce Expo, is located in the heart of London’s historic Royal Docks. Ten minutes away from Canary Wharf’s financial district and just across from the London City Airport, the Excel’s accessibility will be improved with the opening of the Elizabeth line in 2022. With the new tube line, delegates will be able to go from the venue to central London in 15 minutes and to London Heathrow in less than 45 minutes.
Shape the future in the UK, where events inspire change and strong sector expertise in diverse industries support connecting great minds. UK’s destinations and venues have high experience on organising unforgettable events, promoting delegates’ engagement and creating a long-lasting legacy. Find out more: www.eventsaregreat.com
