MEETING & CONFERENCE FACILITIES CAMPUS CONNECTIONS
Julie Barker, Director of College University Business Officers (CUBO), talks to Tomorrow’s FM about the evolution of meeting and conferencing facilities on university sites that has positioned campus services at the forefront of many organisations’ event destination of choice.
Some say the conference industry is on a parallel course with the rise of the internet as conferences are not only getting bigger and more numerous, but the way information is exchanged is evolving, different now than in pre-internet days when events were less plugged-in and interactive.
Universities have been quick to recognize the opportunities and facilities that exist across the UK’s campuses. As campuses become ‘sticky’ – that means the extension to site services in creating new spaces from within and harnessing new uses from traditional facilities – the events and conference’ market has been an obvious choice, delivering new revenue streams and effectively optimizing facilities during historic ‘down-times’ when student rooms and facilities are relatively quiet.
“Conferences and complementary functions have been central to a new commercial approach.”
It comes as no surprise to facilities managers, that the majority of universities have not only superb conferencing and lecture hall facilities (theatres), but also bed space (often for significant numbers), as well as sophisticated catering and banqueting facilities on site – not forgetting leisure and sports facilities, good security and much more.
During term time, those facilities are usefully deployed but during holiday periods – especially summer – there are long, fallow periods, aside of visiting groups from international academia, where some bed-space may have to be held back to accommodate those demands or where international students are guaranteed accommodation over the holiday period.
Conferences and complementary functions have been central to a new commercial approach, working in partnership with external business organisations who are looking for venues which can accommodate large numbers, have good digital facilities and are well placed geographically across the UK, whilst also, of course, offering excellent value for money.
It’s not just about numbers and cost. Convenience and logistics have a big role to play. Alongside large conferences, there is often a need for class seminar space and break out areas, as well as extensive catering facilities and accommodation. There are added benefits
for hosting companies in choosing a university site when it comes to services such as parking availability, leisure and gym facilities, site enablement of wi-fi and keeping delegates contained on one site. All these aspects contribute to the decision-making process and are seen to offer value for money within the broader mix.
Social and hospitality functions that sit with conferences often include awards nights and gala dinners for large numbers. Catering facilities at UK universities are some of the best in the world and can compete with fine dining at the highest level. From a university’s perspective, all these services go hand in hand with developing new revenue streams and a growing contribution to the bottom line.
The type of business to which university affiliation appeals as a conference destination of choice is not only general B & I’ groups, but often comes back to organisations or associations who have links to academia such as research or science. The church is one such organization – for example, The Methodist Church chose Nottingham University for its annual conference in 2018.
Conferences have proven so successful for universities in recent years that a number of central locations – such as Keele, Loughborough and Warwick, have built massive market purpose conference centres to accommodate an increasing demand.
“The University of Warwick, now offers a production house as part of its service offer to customers,
delivering experience, imagination and technical expertise across a range of expert event services.”
These conference centres also double as hotels and the whole provision is no different to a good four-star hotel. These sites are also rated accordingly by the British Tourist Board. The siting of these has evolved strategically from being placed centrally in the UK allowing effective access to motorways, airports and rail and enabling easy access for multi-nationals based across the UK and even internationally.
For example, Keele University offers accommodation and state of the art facilities at the heart of its campus, which is available for residential conferences for 20 weeks of the
26 | TOMORROW’S FM
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