This month's venue news includes a new large-capacity events space for Manchester, a newly appointed caterer for Weston Park, refurbishment work at IET Venues and commercial success for Victory Services Club.
Depot to offer 10,000 capacity events in Manchester
Manchester will see a new 10,000-capacity venue open next month at the city’s historic Mayfield Depot.
The vast former railway station and Royal Mail sorting office, which has been used in recent years to stage occasional one-off events, will kick-start a more long-term events life off by hosting Manchester Pride Live from 24-25 August.
The new venue, Depot, is the result of a collaboration between The Mayfield Partnership and venue specialists Broadwick Venues and Vibration Group, who are the team behind London’s Printworks and Drumsheds.
Plans for the Mayfield site also include two smaller venues, Archive and Concourse.
Concourse will host free community events. While Archive will be a much more intimate performance space with low-cost studio and rehearsal facilities.
Searcys appointed to Weston Park
Weston Park, a historic stately home in Shropshire, has appointed Searcys as its official caterer.
The former ancestral home of the Earls of Bradford is set amongst 1,000 acres of landscaped parkland. It can be hired on an exclusive basis for leadership away-days or residential conferences and offers seven meeting rooms and 28 bedrooms.
Matt Thomas, MD of Searcys, said: “We are honoured to be invited to become part of the Weston Park estate. This is an incredible opportunity to partner with a landmark British location that shares our commitment to provenance and sustainability. We are looking forward to providing the highest level of service in these wonderful surroundings, to help create memorable experiences together for our customers.”
IET Venues plans summer investment at Birmingham and London sites
IET Venues is investing in upgrade work at both IET London: Savoy Place and IET Birmingham: Austin Court from next month.
IET London: Savoy Place’s Riverside Room (pictured) will undergo a £280,000 upgrade to further enhance the room’s state-of-the-art AV.
Improvements include the installation of two 4k video walls and two 4k LED screens, allowing the 180-capacity room to be used in full landscape format, meaning every delegate will have full visibility.
New cameras will also allow speakers or presenters to be filmed from any angle and live relayed onto all screens in the room. While enhancements to the audio system will allow for multiple mapping of the sound to different zones within the building, including the roof terrace.
IET Birmingham: Austin Court will also undergo significant investment over the summer with more than £480,000 in redevelopments, including upgrades to the Kingston Theatre.
As part of the upgrades, the 150-seated capacity theatre will be transformed into a live event space with improved AV and tech including a new state-of-the-art sound system.
Two new HD projection walls either side of the stage will increase client brand marketing opportunities and new LED coloured lighting will make the room a perfect space for product launches, lectures, award ceremonies, presentations and training.
Austin Court and the Riverside Room at Savoy Place will re-open for events from September 2019.
Victory Services Club success results in rise in respite breaks
Victory Services Club (VSC), a private military members club located near Marble Arch in London, has reported a 27% increase in year on year event sales.
The sales growth has directly contributed to a 17.5% rise in the number of free Respite and Welfare breaks given to injured members of the Armed Forces, veterans and their families.
VSC is a registered charity that re-invests revenue from commercial events to fund schemes, such as the free London weekend breaks. The Club has provided 140 of these Respite and Welfare breaks during the past 12 months.
The 300-capacity VSC also reported an 18% increase in the number of events held at the Club to 590, a 22% increase in business from corporates, associations and agents, and 52 new clients.
Mark Field, operations director said: “We find that clients are enthralled by our story; they are not just booking an event, they are directly contributing to the delivery of one of our charitable objectives. More and more companies are realising that they can hold an event that contributes to their CSR objectives, and also receive a professional service with excellent food, attentive customer service, and AV and IT support of the highest order.”
VSC also scooped two prestigious industry awards recently. The Club was declared ‘Best Independent Venue’ at the CHS Awards, and also won the ‘Excellence in Sustainability Award’ at the Hospitality Assured Awards.
By Mike Fletcher