Tag: conference venues westminster

Cavendish Venues and QEII win at Conference Awards 2017

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Cavendish Venues and QEII Centre both emerged triumphant at this year’s Conference Awards with the venues winning Best Conference Venue (under 300 delegates) and Best Conference Venue (over 750 theatre-style) respectively.

Held at Tobacco Dock on Friday 30 June, the awards ceremony celebrated the very best venues, suppliers and event organisers in the conference industry, with more than 600 event professionals in attendance.

Both venues beat off stiff competition to take home the awards and WVC would like to wish them many congratulations on all their hard work.

If you would like to find out more about either of these award-winning venues, click here.

RIBA launches new hospitality pop-up for the summer

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RIBA London’s 66 Portland Place has launched a new hospitality pop-up on its 4th floor terrace.

The pop-up will be a unique outdoor space for clients to entertain their teams on a summer’s evening, either as a standalone event or as a part of a meeting or conference.

Designed by Merrett Houmøller Architects Peter Merrett and Robert Houmøller, the brightly coloured pop-up, was selected from entries to the RIBA Architecture Open 2017, an annual architecture competition run by the institute and open to RIBA members, chartered practices, students and non-members alike.

The summer pop-up is available for exclusive use only, and is able to cater for up to 40 people for an early evening networking event. Food will be provided by event caterer Harbour & Jones and will embrace the theme of social dining featuring dishes from around the world.

Moya Maxwell, head of venues at RIBA, said: “We are delighted to be able to utilise this fantastic installation, which has been designed by the talented Merrett Houmøller Architects. The pop-up is in-situ on our 4th floor terrace until mid-September and we hope to encourage companies to bring their teams together this summer to enjoy each other’s company for a few hours in a relaxed, informal environment that encourages a sense of fun, togetherness and sharing.”

For more information or to book the summer pop-up for an event, please email [email protected] or phone 020 7307 3888.

WVC members are shortlisted for prestigious 2017 miaList

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Westminster Venue Collection is delighted to announce staff from member venues Cavendish Venues and the QEII Centre have been short-listed for a place on the Meetings Industry Association’s coveted miaList.

Paul Martins from Cavendish Venues and Roopi Woodall, Roberto Goncalves, and Charlotte Best from the QEII Centre are all hoping to have secured a place on the prestigious 2017 roll of honour, which recognises key individuals from the meetings, hospitality and events industries who go above and beyond the call of duty.

We wish Paul, Roopi, Roberto and Charlotte the very best of luck when the winners are announced at a celebratory lunch on Friday, 6 October 2017 at Park Plaza Victoria, London.

Follow us @Venues_Wminster for updates and news on this, and all other WVC news.

Westminster Venue Collection appoints Diane Waldron as chair

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Westminster Venue Collection is delighted to announce Diane Waldron, director of sales and marketing at the QEII Centre, has been appointed as our new chair.

Under Diane’s expert leadership, which is drawn from a number of years in the sector, she will be implementing in a range of new initiatives designed to make the collection of 34 venues more visible and accessible to event buyers.

Following hot on the heels of our appearance at The Meetings Show last month, we will be exhibiting at Square Meal Venues and Events Live at Old Billingsgate on 20-21 September, which offers another fantastic opportunity for us to meet organisers face-to-face to discuss your current and future requirements.

Diane takes over from Clare Arouche, former head of business development at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, who has now joined Royal Museums Greenwich as head of sales and events.

If you would like to find out more about us, what we do, and how we can make venue finding faster, easier and more efficient, click here.

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.

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/.

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.

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!

Last chance to register for the launch of The Westminster Collection’s new identity

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There is just a few days left for event buyers to register for their place at leading venue consortium, The Westminster Collection’s glamourous launch event to unveil its re-brand including new name, website and identity.

In an innovative and exciting move for the collection, the new branding will be revealed at Central Hall Westminster on 12 December, and will create a more contemporary, engaging and intuitive event booking system that allows event professionals from around the world to access 34 unique Westminster venues at the click of a button.

The full new-look branding will be revealed exclusively to those in attendance at the launch event which will also give guests the chance to meet and network with the collection’s member venues as well as industry peers and key media.

Entertainment will be in abundance on the night with music provided by member venue St Martin-in-the-Field’s resident choir St Martin’s Voices and guests can get snap-happy with a photo booth provided by PhotoBooth Magic, a preferred supplier for the collection.

Following an introduction from The Westminster Collection’s chair Clare Arouche, Rob Chambers, collection board member and events manager at London Film Museum, will deliver an opening speech highlighting the key features of the new website, the thought-process behind the branding and plans for the collection’s future.

Those in attendance on the night will also have the chance to win one of ‘12 treats of Christmas’ as well as the ultimate ‘Westminster Way’ grand prize with everything needed for the perfect Westminster day out including two tickets to the London Transport Museum, lunch for two at One Great George Street, afternoon tea at Conrad London St James and dinner at the Lansdowne Club.

Chair of The Westminster Collection, Clare Arouche said: “We, as a collection, are thrilled to be able to reveal our re-brand and new website that offers event buyers and planners an even more efficient way of accessing a host of premium and diverse Westminster venues all in one place. A lot of work, research and development has taken place to ensure that the new website offers today’s time-poor planners all of the functionality they need to easily access, enquire and book prestigious venues in the heart of London. The news marks a dynamic time of change and development for the well-established collection.”

To pre-register for your place at The Westminster Collection’s exciting re-brand showcase contact Verity Lethbridge on [email protected] before Big Ben strikes midnight on Sunday, 11 December.

Places are strictly limited and The Westminster Collection reserve the right to qualify your event planning credentials in order to confirm your place.