Church House Westminster shortlisted for three awards

Church House Westminster has been shortlisted this summer for three prestigious awards, after a successful year of business.

The accolades include the prestigious miaList Team Award for their event coordinator team, Best Venue Customer Service Award (over 500 reception style) in the London Venue Awards, and the Most Innovative and Tech-friendly Venue category at the Event Technology Awards.

Last year the multi-purpose events venue achieved the ‘VenueVerdict Gold Standard Accreditation‘ by BVA BDRC for consistently providing an excellent customer experience during 2018. The accreditation, based on customer feedback results independently collected throughout the year, demonstrates the London venue’s ongoing dedication to providing exceptional customer service.

Church House Westminster is also an AIM Gold accredited venue, an Assurance of Excellence, Making Meetings Better, for providing exceptional levels of service and quality.

In addition, the Westminster venue holds a Silver accreditation from Green Tourism as formal recognition of an ongoing commitment to operating in the most sustainable way it can.

Looking at 2020, which will be the 30th anniversary of Church House Westminster, clients who have experienced excellent service are invited to consider voting in the M&IT industry awards. Church House Westminster is in the category ‘C) Best UK Conference Centre’. Details including a voting prize and how to vote can be found here: www.mitawards.co.uk/vote.

The benefits of venues with outdoor space; IET London: Savoy Place

IET London: Savoy Place shares the top three benefits of booking a venue with outdoor spaces.

You can enjoy the good old British weather

Even on mild spring days or fresh autumn ones, it’s important to encourage guests to take some time away from an event and get some fresh air. Booking a conference venue that accommodates this not only provides you with a change of scene, but it clears heads, reinvigorates hard-working minds and has significant health benefits. For example, fresh air helps immune systems fight off disease more effectively and increases serotonin production.

For those who don’t like to take the chance with the weather, find a venue with a wet weather contingency. Clients booking events on The Johnson Roof Terrace at IET London: Savoy Place can rest assured that the terrace can only be booked with the Riverside Room – a versatile large space complete with state-of-the-art equipment.

Outside space can form part of your event 

Whatever the reason for your event or conference, the chances are you will always need a little extra space at some point throughout the day. Savoy Place has hosted clients from many industries and sectors, whether food and drink companies or fashion houses, clients are always looking for something they don’t see every day.

It’s easily the most practical feature

There are lots of reasons using outside space can be more practical than the inside alternative. For example, older listed buildings may have indoor rules and regulations, so outdoor functionality can solve these (think drinks receptions on a terrace as opposed to a makeshift foyer).

Outside space can also showcase the area to guests. One of the draws of Savoy Place is the stunning Roof Terrace, a great space to enjoy drinks receptions, lunch, coffee breaks and while taking in the panoramic London views! The Johnson Roof Terrace’s views are so iconic its regularly used as a backdrop for filming.

World-leading maritime exhibition returns to London at the QEII Centre

The QEII Centre will host the world’s leading exhibition and conference for maritime purchasing and supply chain professionals as it returns to London for the eighth year.

On Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 September, IMPA 2019 will be attended by over 2,000 key decision makers from more than 70 countries, representing all of the world’s major shipping companies and affiliates.

The event is a major coup for London’s business events industry, showcasing the city on an extensive international level as one of the best places in the world to do business. It is the latest in a succession of large-scale international events confirmed to take place at QEII this year, including the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) World Congress due to take place in November.

IMPA’s main exhibition will run in QEII’s largest event space, the combined Britten, Fleming and Whittle on the 3rd floor, with 1,375m2 of space and double-height windows looking out over Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

On the opening day of the event an evening cocktail reception will take place, also in the exhibition hall, with catering provided by the in-house caterers, QEII Taste.

The work of Da Vinci turns experiential at The National Gallery

From 9 November 2019 – 12 January 2020, guests are invited to ‘Experience a Masterpiece’ with the work of Leonardo Da Vinci at The National Gallery

The Ground Floor Galleries will become a painting studio, an imagined chapel and a room-sized experiment in this immersive exhibition that leads you through the mind of Leonardo da Vinci to explore his masterpiece, ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’.

What you will experience

The secrets of Leonardo’s masterpiece are revealed in four distinct spaces. Each space invites you to look at ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ in a new way.

The mind of Leonardo

Start your journey in a landscape populated by the thoughts and ideas of Leonardo as he sets about painting ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’.

The studio

Discover the secrets only science and conservation can reveal in this projection-filled space which unlocks the mysteries of how ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ was painted and reveals the lost composition hidden beneath the painted surface.

The light and shadow experiment

Take part in the room-sized experiment to discover the dramatic effects of light and shadow on Leonardo’s composition for ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’.

The imagined chapel

At the end of your journey, you will come face to face with the original masterpiece where it hangs on the walls of an imagined chapel for you to contemplate how ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ might have appeared in its original setting as part of an elaborate altarpiece.

Award-worthy Westminster venues

It’s been a season of success for many venues within the collection as we see more than 40 shortlisted categories across the London Venue Awards, London Catering Awards, Conference Awards and miaList 2019.

London Venue Awards:

BEST CONFERENCE VENUE – under 400 theatre style

  • Cavendish Venues
  • One Birdcage Walk
  • Prince Philip House
  • Royal Institute of British Architects
  • The National Gallery

BEST AWARDS VENUE

  • Royal Institute of British Architects

 

BEST HISTORIC VENUE OR LIVERY HALL – less than 400 reception style

  • Churchill War Rooms
  • Dartmouth House
  • RSA House

BEST HISTORIC VENUE OR LIVERY HALL – over 400 reception style

  • 116 Pall Mall
  • St Martin-in-the-Fields
  • The Royal Society

BEST VENUE CUSTOMER SERVICE – up to 500 reception style

  • Prince Philip House
  • One Great George Street
  • RSA House

BEST VENUE CUSTOMER SERVICE – over 500 reception style

  • Church House Westminster
  • QEII Centre

BEST WEDDING VENUE

  • 116 Pall Mall
  • Dartmouth House
  • RSA House

BEST VENUE WITH A VIEW – under 400 reception style

  • The National Gallery

BEST CSR OR SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE

  • Cavendish Conference Centre
  • St Martin-in-the-Fields

MOST VERSATILE LONDON VENUE

  • 116 Pall Mall
  • QEII Centre

BEST EVENT VENUE – less than 500 attendees

  • One Great George Street

BEST EVENT VENUE – over 1000 attendees

  • QEII Centre

BEST NEW OR REFURBISHED VENUE

  • BAFTA Piccadilly
  • Lumiere London

 

London Catering Awards:

BEST IN-HOUSE CATERER

  • Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
  • One Great George Street
  • St Martin-in-the-Fields

BEST IN-HOUSE CATERING PARTNER

  • Leiths – QEII Taste

BEST CATERING TEAM

  • CH&Co at RSA House
  • CH&Co at The Royal Society

 

miaList:

MIALIST TEAM AWARDS

  • Church House Westminster – event coordinator team
  • Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn – catering team
  • QEII Centre – QEII Taste

 

The Conference Awards:

Best Conference Venue – under 650 Theatre Style

  • One Great George Street
  • Royal Institute of British Architects

Best Conference Venue Customer Service

  • One Great George Street

 

Event Technology Awards:

Most innovative and tech-friendly venue

  • Church House Westminster
  • QEII Centre

Discover Westminster venues with magnificent libraries

As ‘back to school’ season approaches with students heading off to university for the first time or returning to their place of study, we take a look at stunning venues around Westminster with spectacular libraries.

The London Library
Spread across seven interlocking buildings, with 17 miles of open access bookshelves and over one million books, The London Library has played host to four Poet Laureates and 10 Nobel Prize winners amongst many other notable members.

Featuring beautiful 19th century interiors throughout the building, a selection of spaces are available on an exclusive basis for clients and can include personalised displays and tours of the collection for guests, thereby offering an inspiring and unforgettable event experience. Alongside the beautiful architecture and rich creative history, the venue is in a perfect location for attracting delegates and clients can be assured of being in the very heart of the city and benefiting from the prestige of the many other historic institutions nearby.

Lincoln’s Inn
Lincoln’s Inn’s library is the oldest surviving library in London to have been in continuous existence and the oldest recorded law library in the entire country with references as early as 1475. Today, the space offers a modern working legal reference library for use by any member of the Inn and by the Bar as a whole.

Records in the library archives begin as early as 1422 with entries in Lincoln’s Inn’s Black Books, documenting life at the Inn from its beginnings as an organisation of barristers. The inspiring space offers grandeur, history and infinite possibility for filming opportunities outside of regular opening hours. To enquire, please contact [email protected].

National Gallery
The National Gallery’s library is a hidden treasure and home to around 100,000 resources. The period bookcases, tall ceilings and natural daylight make this behind-the-scenes gem a wonderful filming location.

The library was established in 1870 with the purchase of the private library of some 2,000 volumes belonging to the late Sir Charles Eastlake, the first director of the National Gallery. It now contains around 100,000 printed volumes relevant to the study of the history of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the early 20th century. The space gives researchers a platform to investigate everything from monographs and catalogues to periodic titles.

Regent’s Conferences & Events
Regent’s University London, as it is now known, was the campus of the first ladies college in Great Britain. The story of more than 100 years of education in Regent’s Park begins with the move of Bedford College to the parkland premises in 1912-13.

Referred to as a “treasure house of learning for the goodly fellowship of students” by Sir Henry Tate himself, The Sir Henry Tate Library was built in 1912 by Amy Lady Tate of Tate and Lyle fame. It was opened by Her Majesty Queen Mary on 4 July 1913 to give students a place of reflective silence and thinking space in the library’s traditional form, alongside modern digital services to facilitate research.

The library houses more than 45,000 paper books but also hosts hundreds of thousands of e-books, e-journals and articles through its online electronic library.

IET: Savoy Place
The Maxwell Library, on the first floor of IET London: Savoy Place, is a large and unique event space featuring elements of the old IET Library and two private riverside balconies with a maximum capacity of 190.

This room was created out of the original long room on the first floor of the building formerly built as an Examination Hall for the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians in 1889. The IEE (now IET) bought the remainder of the lease in 1909 and repurposed the room as a library. The Maxwell Library retains most of its original 1909 design, with the gallery remaining intact.

The Library collections are now stored within the building and offsite, with the rare books being stored in Savoy Hill House with the Archives. Some of the collections, including the historic journals, are still in the Maxwell Library. The IET Library holds over five linear kilometres of books and journals, from late medieval manuscripts to modern engineering textbooks.

The Royal Society
Meticulously restored to its ornate condition of the 1890s, the Wolfson Library Suite at The Royal Society offers a dramatic setting that can be adapted for a range of events. With views of the Mall, St James’s Park and Waterloo Gardens, and lots of natural daylight, this newly available space is an exceptional addition to the Royal Society’s rooms.

The tenant responsible for this luxurious decor was an American named Charles Henry Sanford, who spent a comparatively brief period (1890-91) in the house, hiring the architectural firm of Ernest George and Peto to design an interior based on that of a (so far unidentified) palazzo in Ravenna.  The first Barings Bank crisis made an impact on Sanford’s wealth.

He was succeeded by John William Mackay, who had made his fortune from the US’s first great silver mine, and his wife (Marie) Louise. Nicknamed ‘The Bonanza Queen’, Louise threw lavish parties in the first-floor rooms which now make up the Wolfson Library. The interiors were left much as Sanford created them, allowing our modern-day visitors to get a glimpse of 1890s luxury living.