Birmingham

Introduction

Birmingham is one of Europe’s busiest meeting points and home to a wide variety of conference and meetings venues. It was recently named Europe’s most improved city for business, having risen more places in Cushman & Wakefield's influential European Cities Monitor than any of its competitors.

Birmingham is firmly on the map as a major events city having hosted events on the international stage. The city has welcomed the 100th Rotary International Convention which saw 20,000 delegates from 156 countries visit the city. It has recently hosted Ipex, the largest English-speaking global technology event for print, publishing and media with around 75,000 attendees from over 150 countries and 45% of visitors from overseas.

Economic and academic specialisms

Marketing Birmingham is working with key organsations across the city to attract conferences and events in sectors that are economically relevant to Birmingham, such as medical technologies, science, environmental technologies, digital media and creative industries, business, financial and professional services. This reflects the diverse local economy which boasts 42,000 companies from motor cars to manufacturing, electronics to computing, the latest breakthroughs in technology, and a fast-growing business, financial and professional services sector which employs over 100,000 people.

This forms part of a targeted sales strategy focusing on sales and face to face business generation. This will be delivered via a collaborative approach with partners including The NEC Group and other key venues. This ‘Team Birmingham’ approach has worked well in the past in attracting and hosting major conferences and events.

Key venue

The International Convention Centre (ICC) is one of Europe’s premier conference and meeting venues. With 11 halls and 10 meeting rooms, The ICC has the resources to host more than 400,000 delegates at more than 570 events annually.

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is the UK’s largest and one of Europe’s busiest, exhibition venue and conference centres. Just eight miles from the city centre, it has more than 193,000m of covered exhibition space through 20 interconnecting halls, seminars and hospitality suites.

The LG Arena has recently undergone at £29m redevelopment and has new seating, an increased capacity of 15,700 and new bars and restaurants, offering visitors a whole new experience.

The National Indoor Arena has a maximum capacity of 13,500 in a fully-seated configuration.

Accommodation

Birmingham has more than 27,000 hotel beds in and around the city, and in excess of 5,000 hotel bedrooms within walking distance from The ICC. International hotel brands include the Hyatt Regency, Intercontinental Group – Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, The Rezidor Hotel Group – Radisson Blu, Accor Hotels – Novotel, Ibis and Etap, and Millennium Hotels – Copthorne Hotel. An alternative to hotel accommodation is to stay in serviced apartments such as Staying Cool

Unique venues for gala dinners and receptions

Birmingham is host to a wide variety of unique venues, for all group sizes. Whether it be the large purpose built New Bingley Hall to the smaller traditional Museum, Birmingham has it all.

New Bingley Hall is Birmingham’s most recent and largest City Centre venue for banqueting, conferences, exhibitions and can accommodate 1500 for a banquet with stage and dance floor.

Hyatt Regency Birmingham has eight meeting rooms, individually designed to cater for every type of event from intimate board meeting to banquets and private dining. The hotel's Symphony Ballroom provides 225 square metres of versatile, state-of-the-art space for either business or pleasure and is ideal for meetings and banquets.

Birmingham City Council Banqueting Suite- The Council House is a Grade II* listed building which offers one of the city's most prestigious venues for meetings, banqueting and corporate entertaining. The superb Banqueting Suite can accommodate up to 328 guests for dinner and the professional catering team are experts of creative cuisine.

Home to the Holte family, Aston Hall is one of Birmingham's most treasured buildings as it's residents played in key moments in history, including the English Civil War. The 17th-century mansion of Aston Hall creates a stately ambience for meetings and functions of between 15 and 80 people.

Other historic venues in Birmingham include the old Birds Custard Factory where the venue Space 2 lends itself effortlessly to any function, seating up to 450 guests banqueting style.

At Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery the dining facilities are provided in the Edwardian Tea Room, one of the most beautiful interior spaces in Birmingham. This spectacular dining hall can seat up to 140 guests for a formal dinner or 200 for a buffet.

For more gentle surroundings Birmingham offers its Botanical Gardens with elegant dining in unique surroundings. The Garden Suite is approached through the magnificent Tropical House and Terrace Glasshouses, and is the ideal choice for the large social functions of between 180 and 400 guests.

However if you prefer the luxurious City Centre Nightlife feeling, Mechu is the destination for you. Situated on the prestigious Summer Row, Mechu can seat 500 guests.