Category: Events

Chef de Partie & House Steward vacancies at One Great George Street

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Do you know a Chef de Partie or House Steward 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 vacancies.  

One Great George Street is an award-winning conference, event and wedding venue just off Parliament Square, close to many of London’s major landmarks and attractions.

Offering first class facilities and service standards, this magnificent four-domed Edwardian building is perfect for any event, whether it is a small meeting for 10, a large conference for over 100 or an elegant gala dinner. There are 19 rooms to choose from, each varying in style and amenities.

For more information on the positions available please email: [email protected]

 

Christmas comes early to QEII

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Christmas celebrations were in full swing at the QEII Centre last month, when guests were welcomed to a showcase of the Westminster venue’s ‘Snow Ball’ Christmas party theme.

Taking over the centre’s recently refurbished Mountbatten room, QEII underwent a festive transformation with a frosted glass, blue, crystal and gold colour scheme elegantly matched with floor-to-ceiling windows, offering views of the London city skyline at dusk.

Spirits were kept high with a soundtrack of jazzy Christmas classics and exquisite festive dishes served by head chef Jean Michel Viala on the evening, transporting guests from a sunny spring day to a glorious winter setting.  

QEII’s Snow Ball Christmas party packages, including seated dinners and standing receptions, are available to book now, with full theming options from QEII’s event team and a choice of canapé, bowl food and banqueting menus from QEII Taste.

For more information email [email protected] or call 020 7798 4025.

Wake up and smell the coffee – our members reveal hot drink trends for 2017

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With National Coffee Week taking place in April, our members revealed coffee still reigns supreme as the professional meeting hot beverage of choice.

Serving over 135,000 cups every week – equating to 33,750 litres and enough to fill over 125 bath tubs – our 36 members unveiled coffee outstrips demand for tea as only 73,800 cups were served in the same period.

Although coffee still triumphs, members did note an increase in requests for speciality teas such as peppermint and green tea as well as the fruity blends.

Clare Arouche, WVC chair said: “It is always interesting to hear from our members about what’s happening and the trends they have noted within our industry. Despite the fast-paced movement of technological advancements in our sector, this survey highlights the more traditional elements like hot drinks remain a key staple element.”

She added: “’We believe the rise in offering speciality teas is reflective of the trend for venues to offer a wider variety of choice to event planners and attendees. This is very much a response to the move towards more health-conscious meeting and event catering, which is growing in popularity within the industry as organisers want to ensure delegates remain dynamic and focused.”

For more information about our incredible selection of Westminster venues or to find out how they can make finding a venue so much easier, click here. 

Three charities mark London Marathon success at Church House Westminster

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Church House Westminster hosted post-marathon charity events for more than 650 people on Sunday, 23 April for the British Heart Foundation, The Children’s Society and Sarcoma UK.  

Since the British Heart Foundation (BHF) was formed, the number of deaths each year from heart and circulatory disease in the UK has halved and 70% of people now survive a heart attack. This year the charity, which is the UK’s largest independent funder of cardiovascular research, was represented by over 200 runners who were raising funds to support and  improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all heart and circulatory diseases. Following the marathon, the charity hosted BHF runners and their families making use of the Assembly Hall, Bishop Partridge and Jubilee Rooms.

The Children’s Society, which works to support vulnerable children in England and Wales, held their post-race event for more than 100 people for the fourth time  in its in Church House Westminster’s Hoare Memorial Hall.

Stephanie Drummond, challenge event manager from The Children’s Society said: “We are so proud of our fantastic team of runners who are fundraising to support our work with the most vulnerable children across the country suffering abuse, hardship and neglect. Our post-race party at Church House is an opportunity to thank everybody who has trained so hard and raised vital funds to support The Children’s Society.”

This year the largest team from Sarcoma UK – the bone and soft tissue cancer charity – took on the Virgin Money London Marathon with 45 runners, and they were joined by friends and family for the charity’s After Party in the Harvey Goodwin Suite at Church House Westminster. The team was aiming to raise £100,000 to transform the lives of people affected by the disease, fund ground-breaking research and provide personal support and expert information via its national Support Line.

Robin Parker, general manager at Church House Westminster, said: “It was great to host the post-race events for these three fantastic charities. We have great admiration for all of the runners and the money they have raised for these brilliant causes.”

Church House Westminster is one of London’s most versatile event venues. The AIM Gold accredited venue offers 19 flexible event spaces, which accommodate between two and 664 guests, and hosts a wide variety of events including meetings, conferences, awards ceremonies, gala dinners and receptions.

For more information call 020 7390 1590 or visit www.churchhouseconf.co.uk.

Huishan Zhang showcases RTW Fall collection at Church House Westminster

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Church House Westminster hosted up-and-coming fashion designer Huishan Zhang’s Ready To Wear Fall 2017 collection as part of London Fashion Week (LFW).

The show on Monday, 20 February, which was broadcast around the world via a live stream on the LFW website, took advantage of the venue’s spacious Assembly Hall, with models taking to a catwalk which circulated the entire room.

Huishan has been a regular feature on the LFW Schedule, with celebrity supporters such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Amelia Dornan, Naomi Campbell and Samantha Cameron wearing his collections. 

Huishan Zhang said: “Being an international fashion house based in London, Church House felt like the perfect location to synergise the brands ethos of bridging cultures. The venue is a huge part of London’s culture and is a historical land mark full of history and culture – a melting pot for what inspires our collections.”

Robin Parker, general manager at Church House Westminster, said: “London Fashion Week is one of the city’s most vibrant and creative events and our flexible event spaces provide designers with a range of creative options. The Assembly Hall offers a stylish setting for catwalk shows, and we are delighted that a number of designers are now utilising the venue to showcase their latest collections.”

For more information about Church House Westminster please contact [email protected].

20 Cavendish Square now supporting emerging artists

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20 Cavendish Square at the Royal College of Nursing has announced it will be supporting a new emerging artist every two months by exhibiting art in its office.

The fantastic venue will be showcasing a range of exciting styles over the coming months throughout its meeting rooms and office space. The paintings will be available to buy and the it is hoped the changing nature of the exhibitions will inject energy into the workplace, creating a dynamic and stimulating environment.

Art is a subjective topic and changing the works regularly will enable 20 Cavendish Square to cater for a range of tastes. It will provide the opportunity for staff and visitors to enjoy gallery quality art at work, encouraging people to share their opinions, promoting conversation and communication.

Cassandra Henry conference & internal manager, at 20 Cavendish Square, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to give emerging artists a platform whilst also having a positive impact on our space.”

The first artist to be exhibited at 20 Cavendish Square is Mark Fisher. Originally from Canterbury, Mark now works from him studio in Sedlescombe, East Sussex. He was taught to draw and paint from an early age by his mother, winning his first art competition at the young age of 16.

Mark’s collection of London cityscapes, are painted in a distinctive, representational style. Inspired by artists such as J.M.W Turner and Kurt Jackson, he is interested not only in the landscape but in the architecture that sits within it. Using deliberate brushwork, Mark builds the city in horizontal and vertical lines from high view-points to deliver an atmospheric body of work.

20 Cavendish Square is working with Little Van Gogh to bring these changing exhibitions to their London office.

Chloé Adams, director of Little Van Gogh, which works with artists all over Europe exhibiting 7,000 pieces of art internationally, said: “We are delighted to be showcasing our artists with 20 Cavendish Square. They have embraced supporting the arts wholeheartedly and the artwork is going to look fantastic in the space.”

For more information, please visit [email protected].

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/.

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.

Fashion-forward RIBA Venues hosts Wales Bonner

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RIBA Venues, the conference and events arm of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), based at 66 Portland Place in London, recently played host to the Wales Bonner fashion show on 8 January 2017.

The event, which took place during London Fashion Week, showcased Wales Bonner’s 2017 winter/ autumn collection to 150 guests in the venue’s RIBA Gallery. 

Acclaimed fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner won the L’Oréal Professional Talent Award for her graduate collection and Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards in 2015. Her work explores representations of black male sexuality and identity which is informed by research that encompasses critical theory, composition, literature and historical sources.

 Grace Wales Bonner said: “The Florence Hall was a very impressive space which allowed me to be ambitious with the show concept. The venue and location are beautiful and inspiring, it was a pleasure to work with the RIBA team.”

RIBA Venues head of venues, Moya Maxwell, said: “We were delighted to welcome such an acclaimed fashion designer to RIBA Venues. This further consolidates our offering as a great venue for high-profile fashion events, as well as conferences and meetings.”

To find out more about RIBA Venues click here.

Cavendish Venues looks forward to a great year with WVC

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Westminster Venue Collection board member and director of sales at Cavendish Venues discusses a successful 2016 and looks ahead to the next 12 months as part of the consortium.

We at Cavendish Venues are proud to be a member of the Westminster Venue Collection with the Cavendish Conference Centre located in the Borough of Westminster.

As a board member of WVC, it has been exciting to take on the role of website chair throughout our recent rebrand to oversee not only the long-awaited rebranding of the collective’s name but the launch of the new website.

With a strong and diverse collection of 33 prestigious, unique and unusual venues in the London Borough of Westminster, the rebrand has allowed us to reinforce the nature of the group being, at its core, about venues. With this being a key focus for 2016, significant investment was made on a new website using a contemporary new colour palette and a slicker brand identity in line with a new vision for the WVC’s development.

As a board, we listened to our members and clients, took their valued feedback on board, and constructed a functionality that streamlines the user journey and allows only specific enquiries to be received per venue, saving venue members and event bookers’ time significantly.

The new website, launched at the #WVC2016Launch Showcase in December, also gives autonomy for member venues to promote themselves with a portal where they can edit imagery, criteria and special offers as frequently as they need to.

Significantly, the portal will also allow members to track the number of specific enquiries received via the WVC website, there booking status, the number of confirmations and ultimately confirmed revenue for return on investment.

2017 is set to be a fantastic year for the collection. Don’t forget to sign up to our monthly newsletter for event information, venue news and unmissable special offers and promotions!