DELIVERY SURGEONS’ HALL


A record year for Surgeons’ Hall - but the 511-year- old venue is keeping its feet firmly planted on the ground (unlike the dancers)


32 | EVENTSBASE | SUMMER 2016


Te Edinburgh institution has had a record year for events, posting its best sales figures in a decade of operation


BY KEVIN O’SULLIVAN W


hen I catch up with Scott Mitch- ell, the commer- cial director of Surgeons’ Hall in


Edinburgh, he is in ebullient mood. As well he might be: the venue, coupled with its Ten Hill Place Hotel, has just had a record year for events. An expanding campus, including


the new Prince Philip building, a strong catering proposition (a deli- cate mix between in-house exper- tise and caterers Heritage Portfolio), and a high-achieving business de- velopment team all led to a £4.25m turnover in 2015 - the best perfor- mance in the institution’s 511-year


history (although Mitchell is keen to point out they have only been trad- ing as a commercial events business for 10 years). “It was undeniably a fantastic


year for us at Surgeons’ Hall, but we’re not getting carried away,” says Mitchell. “I think a few things are driving it - the opening of the new Prince Philip building last year gave us extra capacity and extra exposure, and we are also becoming better known in the market, because we are only 10 years old as a business. “But we’re also getting a huge


number of repeat bookings, which is a sign that what we’re doing is good. And then we’re reaching out and touching base with people who haven’t used us before, and they are now back to use us again, so the mix of word of mouth and good quality is working well for us.” Mitchell is also keen to highlight


the increase in profits is down to “economies of scale” rather than simply upping prices. “We are do- ing more business with the same amount of full-time staff; we’re becoming more efficient which


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44