DOMESTIC TRAVEL
Focus on Birmingham
Rapidly reinforcing itself as England’s second biggest city, Birmingham means business. ANDY HOLLIS finds out what it has to offer those travelling on business, and PAs booking services in the city
At the heart of the West Midlands, Birmingham is giv- ing London a run for its money in terms of business. Once known as the ‘workshop of the world’, and ‘the city with a thousand trades’, Birmingham was the power- house of the Industrial Revolution. Today, commercial business is soaring and the city offers an impressive wealth of conference venues, hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment. Birmingham was recently named as Europe’s most
improved city for business, having climbed more places in Cushman & Wakefield’s influential European Cities Monitor than any other. It now lies 14th in the list of 34 other growing cities across Europe and looks set to con- tinue its success. According to Ian Taylor, commercial director of confer- ence and event planner MeetBirmingham, the city has ambitious £11billion regeneration plans for continuous growth for the next 20 years: “With world-class convention facilities, a vast choice of hotel accommodation, vibrant nightlife and a fabulous choice of shopping in the pedestri- an-friendly city centre, Birmingham is the one place that can hold it all together.” Birmingham’s reputation for host- ing big events has reached new heights hosting the confer- ences of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.
Getting there
The city is well served by its airport, motorway and rail networks – and is often reported as having more canals than Venice. Plans are afoot to further improve these links. The £600million Gateway scheme will see the 1960s New Street station transformed into a modern transport hub by 2015. In the pipeline is an extension to the Midland Metro, which currently runs from Snow Hill station to Wolverhampton, which will make more areas of the city easier to reach.
New places to stay and do business
“There’s a vast choice of 27,000 beds in and around the city centre, and there are about 25,000 car parking spaces too,” said Ian. New hotels include the £22million Village Prem hotel, on The Green Business Park. At 28,000sq ft it has 128 modern bedrooms, high-tech meet- ing and conference facilities, as well as a fully-equipped health and fitness club. The Ramada Encore Birmingham City Centre has 131 bedrooms, and a meet- ing room that can accommodate up to 30 delegates. The recently redeveloped 4-star Crowne Plaza in the
city centre is near the National Indoor Arena and the International Convention Centre. The hotel has 312 bed- rooms and a dedicated business floor has 11 conference and event rooms, accommodating from 10 to 300 delegates. The Town Hall has had a £35million renovation and
can now hold up to 900 guests without catering or 500 guests with catering. Its partner venue, Symphony Hall, can be hired for conferences of up to 2,200 delegates. The
Above Birmingham’s
Hippodrome is open for events Top right The Studio’s roof garden is perfect for the summer Middle right The Village Prem hotel is newly opened
Bottom rightAt the Hippodrome
the Stageside Bar Bistro can now be hired for meetings
venues share staff to help with arrangements from plan- ning stages through to overseeing the event on the day. The Studio, in the city centre, has been extended with a new floor available for meetings, training, events or product launches. It now has 15 event spaces catering for up to 200 guests. Birmingham Hippodrome, which stages some of the biggest shows outside the West End, has opened up its Stageside Bar Bistro on Thorpe Street to hire for meetings and events.
CONTACTS
Meet Birmingham
www.meetbirmingham.com
The Ramada Encore
www.encorebirmingham.co.uk
Crowne Plaza
www.crowneplaza.com
The Town Hall and Symphony Hall
www.thsh.co.uk
The Studio
www.studiovenues.co.uk
Baskerville House
www.baskervillehouse.co.uk
Birmingham Hippodrome
www.birminghamhippodrome .com
Looking ahead
The Cube is the final phase of the Mailbox development due to open this year. Designed by the same architect as London’s Gherkin, the 23-storey tower will contain flats, offices, shops, a hotel and a skyline restaurant. With 8,000 acres of parks and open spaces, Birmingham is known as the UK’s greenest city. Five of its parks have Green Flag status – most recently Handsworth Park which has reopened after a £9.5 million improvement scheme. “The transformation of Birmingham has been breath-
taking” commented Ian. “This is a cosmopolitan, acces- sible and truly welcoming city. There’s a renewed energy and confidence about Birmingham that is visible from the moment you arrive. As one of Europe’s finest confer- ence destinations this is a city that welcomes major events like no other.” So make some time to explore a city that has so much more to offer. E
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