Month: February 2017

QEII Centre obtains prestigious Investors in People Silver Award

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London’s QEII Centre is celebrating after being presented with the highly-coveted Investors in People ‘Silver Standard’ award.

The Investors in People Standard is a framework of best practice, awarded to well-run organisations that meet set criteria in areas including learning and development, leadership skills, as well as recognition and reward.

To achieve the Silver Standard Award, employees of QEII completed an online survey and members of the team were randomly selected for interviews with the assessor, in which they were asked how they felt about working at QEII and the company’s vision and values.

The Investors in People assessor saw the motivation and enthusiasm of the QEII team shine through, acknowledging the hard work and dedication in delivering the venue’s vision to be acclaimed as London’s finest specialist events venue, with a global reputation for excellence, superb client partnership working and the delivery of successful, creative, professional and innovative events.

QEII was first accredited by Investors in People in 1998. Once an organisation has achieved the Core Standard they are encouraged to strive to reach a higher level of accreditation (silver, gold or platinum) to better themselves by demonstrating further evidence to meet tougher criteria.

Raj Pragji, HR director at the QEII Centre said: “Only 24% of Investors in People accredited organisations achieve Silver or Gold status, so I’m really proud to say that QEII Centre is one of the prestigious few. We’ve worked very hard over the past 24 months to engage staff with our Transforming Together Change Programme and it’s really paid off, resulting in us being in an incredibly strong market position. It’s great that we’ve been recognised for going above and beyond in such a key area of people management.”

For more information about the QEII Centre, visit www.qeiicentre.london.

Gold for Church House Westminster

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Church House Westminster has achieved BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation for 2016.

The annual Venue Verdict Gold Standard accreditation is awarded to venues who achieve a consistently high standard throughout the year, scoring above the required net promoter score in each of the four qualifying quarters.

Church House Westminster’s General Manager Robin Parker comments: “Reaching the Gold Standard once again is a fantastic achievement which the entire team should be proud of. They work hard to achieve our objective of providing outstanding service to all of our clients and their delegates. Only a small percentage of venues across the country achieve the standard so this is recognition of our commitment to excellence. The BDRC Continental VenueVerdict Gold Accreditation is based on the responses of people who have attended events at Church House and their feedback is important as we continually strive to improve our service.”

During 2016, Church House Westminster hosted more than 800 events with a range of new business being attracted to the venue including Osman’s London Fashion Week show, the final curtain call for Billy Elliott the Musical. The venue also underwent a rebrand as well as continued investment in its state-of-the-art AV facilities with the installation of a 4K dual projection and a new sound system in its largest room, the Assembly Hall.

Fore more information about Church House please visit https://www.venues-london.co.uk/venues/church-house-westminster/.

Chef de Partie Vacancy at ‘London’s Best Private Dining Venue’

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Do you know a chef de partie who is looking for a new opportunity within a great team based in Central London? If so, let them know about One Great George Street’s latest vacancy for a chef de partie.

Reporting to the head chef, this role is ideal for a hard-working individual who is not afraid of a busy working environment and who takes pride in providing a flawless service.
Recently crowned ‘London’s Best Private Dining Venue’ at The London Venue Awards, One Great George Street has earned itself an excellent reputation for private dining in addition to banqueting, conference and its on-site Brasserie One and Café Bar cuisine.

For more information please visit https://icegroupjobs.ice.org.uk/VacancyDetails.aspx?FromSearch=True&MenuID=86NAzEEyjlQ=&VacancyID=403.

The Lansdowne Club is hiring a conference and banqueting supervisor

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The Lansdowne Club, a private members’ club in the heart of Mayfair, is looking for a conference and banqueting supervisor to join their dynamic operations team.

The successful candidate should have experience working in a busy conference and banqueting environment in a prestigious venue, be confident working on their own initiative as well as being able to lead a team, have great attention to detail, fantastic customer service skills, and experience in cash handling as well as bar experience is a must!

If you are interested in this position and would like to more information, please send your application and CV to Lansdowne events manager, Lucy Mannering – [email protected].

RIBA Venues recruits for Event Operations Executive

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Events Operations Executive – RIBA Venues

£20,000 –  £23,000 range per annum

RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD

35 hours per week ( fulltime, permanent contract)

Deadline for applying: Friday, 3rd March 2017

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and its members. With a passion to promote a wider public appetite and interest in architecture through its website, exhibitions, talks and four million-strong collections, the RIBA has led the profession since its foundation in 1834, and continues to lead as architects face the challenges of the 21st century.

RIBA’s venues team market and sell its 21 meetings and event facilities, and you will be responsible for delivering its budgets and managing resulting events at 66 Portland Place.

Booking and managing meetings and events for up to 400 guests, your role will be wide-ranging including dealing with corporate, private client and internal events. You’ll be involved in contributing to the growth of the department’s turnover by applying sales techniques and assisting team members in applying the same.

With proven sales, logistics, event planning and delivery experience and a passion for selling and delivering event services in a heritage, historical or unique venue (or 5* hotel) you will be a confident sales-driven team member.  A first-class communicator, you’ll have the ability to build and develop relationships, manage expectations, meet deliverables and negotiate with clients and suppliers.

Highly motivated, organised and target driven, you should be able to work as part of a wider team as well as taking responsibility for sole events and projects.

You’ll need to be educated in business, sales, hospitality, catering or related subject, with experience of a PMS/Booking system as an advantage.

If you would like to apply for the position, please send a CV and covering letter to Kirsten Kruls at [email protected].

Shepherd’s of Westminster announces weekend closures to focus on events

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Shepherd’s of Westminster has announced  its bar and restaurant will no longer be opening at weekends or on bank holidays .to concentrate on functions such as milestone birthdays, engagement parties and significant wedding anniversaries.

An application has also been submitted for a licence to perform civil marriages and civil partnerships on the premises which, if granted, would mean ceremonies could take place in the larger private dining room, whilst the main bar and restaurant would be set up for receptions and wedding breakfasts.

Proprietor Lionel Zetter said: “Many Westminster residents spend their weekends outside of London, and Saturdays and Sundays have always been quiet for us. By switching the emphasis to events over the weekend we hope to fill a gap caused by a shortage of elegant but affordable events venues in central London. We very much hope that our neighbours in the Westminster and Pimlico areas will consider using our facilities when celebrating landmark occasions.”

To find out more about booking Shepherd’s of Westminster for your next event, please contact [email protected].

Cavendish Venues bolsters proactive team with new appointment

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Chloë Bennett has joined Cavendish Venues as event sales executive.

Chloë will bring to the team a fresh enthusiasm with sales experience from the property and construction industries as well as the real estate sector.

Along with proactive sales, Chloë will offer creative input on social media and marketing utilising her events knowledge gained from her time at the National Theatre.

Commenting on the appointment, Paul Martins, director of sales at Cavendish Venues said: “At Cavendish Venues we’re passionate about growing the business by recognising rising young talent in the industry and Chloë’s appointment is part of that initiative. It’s too often the case that good people leave the MICE sector to progress their careers in other fields and so it’s extremely important to highlight the positives the events industry has, to continue to bring in exciting prospects with the right personalities, skill-sets and attitudes”

He added: “We are extremely excited to have Chloë on board with us and we believe that continuing to offer experience and encouragement along with the platforms to succeed for our staff, will only strengthen the high standards Cavendish Venues is known for.”

For more information about Cavendish Venues click here.

Lights, Camera, Westminster – curtain’s up on venue collection’s starring roles

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Fresh off the back of Sunday night’s glitzy Oscar ceremony, Westminster Venue Collection (WVC) has revealed its members witnessed a 30% increase in film location enquiries in 2016.

The recently rebranded collection, which features 34 members all based in London’s iconic City of Westminster, announced film locations bookings now amount up to 10% of their yearly event revenue.

With fashionable townhouses and private members’ clubs to luxury hotels, celebrated attractions, historic institutes and societies, it’s no wonder an impressive 86% of the eclectic mix of venues have been used as the locations for both the big and small screens.

Keen cinema-goers will know member venue One Great George Street has played a starring role in a range of productions including last year’s Hollywood blockbuster ‘War Machine’ featuring Brad Pitt as well as Woman in Gold (2015). The venue’s Great Hall became the Guildhall for Mark Darcy’s law society dinner in Bridget Jones’ Edge of Reason (2004) and doubled as the National Gallery where Mr Bean is a guard in Bean (1997).

The QEII Centre’s impressive and highly versatile space – the Churchill – which regularly offers a backdrop for a variety of large events ranging from conferences, award ceremonies, corporate dinners, parties and presentations provided an Oscar-winning performance in ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014).

Other productions have seen member venues providing key locations in Calendar Girls (2003), Spectre (2015), Sherlock Holmes (TV series) and the nation’s favourite wizarding series, Harry Potter.

Commenting on the trend, Kate McCarthy, marketing manager at member venue One Great George Street, said: “From the enquiries we’re receiving, the positive trend for location bookings definitely looks set to continue for One Great George Street in 2017. We’re looking forward to welcoming a whole host of new names and stars to our venue in the coming years.”

Clare Arouche, WVC chair and head of business development at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, added: “With a host of iconic, unique and historical buildings within our membership, Westminster Venue Collection truly is a location scout’s dream and with our new and improved search function on its website, the perfect setting is just a few clicks away. We look forward to hearing about all the fantastic film and television projects our venues are involved in throughout 2017 and beyond.”

If you would like to find out more about booking one of WVC’s venues for an upcoming film, television or documentary piece please visit the venue collection page and place your enquiry.