Industry News, July 2009

The University of Edinburgh plans to extend its main conference facilities by September.  The £9m refurbishment of the John McIntyre Centre will see the addition of the new Pentland Conference Suite for up to 350 theatre style. EICC has submitted a proposal for an £85m expansion, including additional function space, to the City of Edinburgh Council.

Media City – South Tower, the first phase of Manchester’s MediaCityUK development has just been ‘topped-out’ in a special ceremony. It covers 36 acres and will be completed in 2011. It will house BBC offices, apartments and a hotel for which an as yet unnamed operator has been secured.

The 4* Apex Temple Court Hotel is set to open in Winter 2010 with 170 bedrooms, restaurant, bar and conference facilities.

Lancashire CCC is set to open ‘The Point’ in Autumn 2010, a new £12m conference and event suite, it will be able to cater for up to 1000 people.

Turnberry Hotel has reopened following a £30million overhaul, completed just in time for the 2009 British Open golf championship in Ayrshire. The hotel, now a Starwood Luxury Collection Resort, says the refurbishment is designed to open up space particularly on the ground floor of the hotel so the public areas and restaurant will gain the full advantage of these views. The first phase of the development has seen all the public areas refurbished and 40 of its 211 bedrooms overhauled with air-conditioning installed.

Drayton Manor theme park has been given approval to build a new hotel in surrounding parkland near Tamworth in Staffordshire. The 150-bedroom hotel will comprise a 90-cover restaurant and a 60-cover brasserie, as well as a café and extensive conference and banqueting facilities. Construction of the £14million hotel is likely to start in spring 2010 with completion expected by summer 2011.

The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Group is planning to open a third hotel in London in Heron Tower in the City of London. The Heron International Group has agreed terms with the hotel chain to develop a hotel as part of its Heron Plaza development. Heron Tower, 46-storey office skyscraper, is currently under construction in Bishopsgate with a completion scheduled for first quarter 2011. It will include retail and public space. It is thought that Heron will submit a revised application by the end of the year with plans to include the new Four Seasons Hotel.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express have been announced as the ‘Official HH Services Provider to London 2012.

Imago in Loughborough will play host to the 600 strong Japanese Olympic 2010 team. The win includes 1,700 room nights this year and a further 3,500 each year until July 2012.

ETC Venues is to open a new event space next to its existing London Bridge venue in August. ‘Illuminate’ will have capacity for up to 300 people following a £600k investment.

Principal Hayley rescues New Connaught Rooms from administration. The London venue is to undergo a £7m refurbishment in July & August and is set to open in September.

The 210-room Hilton Reading officially launched on 2 July. The property is situated about 10 minutes from Reading’s town centre in an area that is being redeveloped. A ballroom with capacity for 800 is among the property’s event spaces.

Kings Fund in London has refurbished 14 of its conference and meeting rooms. It also now offers a brand new 225 seated theatre.

BMA has recently completed a major refurbishment to create stunning new event spaces alongside purpose built meeting rooms.

The Blue Fin Building located behind the Tate Modern has been hosting internal events since opening. It has recently been made available to external clients. It includes a glass wintergarden, a state of the art 96 seat theatre.  Spectacular views of London including the River Thames, Tate Modern and St. Pauls Cathedral.

Lensbury Conference Centre is pleased to announce that on the 7th July 2009 they closed down half of the conference centre for a major £2.5m upgrade. This investment will ensure that the Lensbury will have some of the best conference facilities in the London area and hopefully show you their ongoing commitment to improving their product.

Glasgow is boosting its C&I offering with £500m of major infrastructure developments ahead of hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The spend will include 2,400 new hotel rooms, many of which will be five-star with adjoining conference facilities, set to open over the next two years.
The Glasgow Central Hotel will re-open in February 2010 as the newly re-named ‘Grand Central Hotel’, once again firmly on the map as Glasgow’s leading 4-star conference and leisure hotel. This will also be added to the Principal Hayley portfolio of venues.

International

Istanbul has been chosen as the 2010 European Capital of Culture

The Dublin Convention Centre has been accredited as the 1st carbon neutral international convention centre due to the use of low carbon cement and carbon off setting.