News

See all the latest news and press releases from Meet Birmingham.

• NEC Group switches off to support ‘green’ event

  THE NEC Group switched off its lights in support of WWF’s Earth Hour, the world’s largest display of action to tackle climate change. By turning off the lights for one hour at its four venues, The National Exhibition Centre, The International Conv...

  

• The ICC cooks up success at Midland’s food Oscars

  Chefs at The ICC triumphed in last night’s MARCHE awards – scooping two culinary accolades including ’Young Chef of the Year’ for a consecutive time. Over a thousand of the region’s top chefs and restaurant owners gathered at The ICC fo...

  

• Medical association wins for Birmingham

  The ICC Birmingham has signed contracts with five national and international associations which the convention centre management expects to generate more than £33m for the West Midlands region, and bringing in 8,000 people to Britain’s second city....

  

• Planning permission awarded for Edgbaston Priory Club redevelopment

  Home to the modern game of tennis, Glenn Howells Architects’ (GHA) £10 millionredevelopment scheme of Edgbaston Priory Club has been awarded planningpermission. Set within its unique parkland setting, GHA’s long-awaited redevelopment of thefamous...

  

• East End Food unveils plan for former HP factory site

  Birmingham firm East End Foods has unveiled its plans for the former HP factory site in Aston Cross, which includes a 100,000 sq ft cash and carry, a hotel and a conference centre – which will see the firm invest £35 million to boost the regene...

  

• New John Lewis store revealed for Birmingham

  An image of how John Lewis’s £100 million store above New Street Station will transform Birmingham have been released. The new artist’s impression of the city’s latest big retail development was released at MIPIM, the global property confer...

  

• Crufts is ‘top dog’ for the region’s economy

  A staggering 2.5 million visitors and 500,000 dogs have travelled from the UK and across the globe to visit Crufts during its 20 year residency in the West Midlands. According to figures from The NEC and the Kennel Club, approximately 138,000 people ...

  

• Meet Birmingham sales leads up 100% at Confex

  City enjoys halo effect from event organisers keen to base events in a ‘buzzing’ UK Meet Birmingham, which promotes the city’s convention bureau, enjoyed a successful International Confex 2011 at Earls Count in London this month, with specific s...

  

• Something for everybody at Naidex National 2011

  Naidex National, (re-branded from Naidex Birmingham) will be taking place on 5-7 April 2011 at Birmingham’s NEC. Building on its 36 years of success, Naidex National will be the largest Naidex ever, providing an ever better service to those wishing...

  

• Conference Aston makes it a hat trick at leading industry awards

  A top Birmingham conference centre has picked up a trio of awards at a prestigious industry ceremony. Conference Aston picked up three trophies at the Meetings and Incentive Travel Awards, held on February 28th in London. At the ceremony at Park Plaza...

  

• Antiques Roadshow is coming to town!

  Birmingham venue and academic institution University of Birmingham is to host the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow in April as it tours the country. The show will be coming to Birmingham on Wedensday 20th April. The show is asking for anyone with prized ...

  

• TOA Taxis celebrate 50 years!

  TOA Taxis, Birmingham’s oldest and largest cab firm are this year celebrating their 50th birthday. The organisation, established in 1961, provide 24/7 coverage of Birmingham, serving the taxi requirements for the city with their 320-taxi fleet, ...

  

• AVFC chefs scoop food award

  Two claret and blue chefs have shown their culinary class by scooping major food awards. Richard Dutton and Kevin Annett emerged victorious at the Major International Football Stadia event at Hospitality 2011. They won the ‘best in class gold aw...

  

• Birmingham wins solar power conference

  The organiser of conference Solar Power UK (SPUK), Solar Media, has moved the event to Birmingham and introduced an exhibition element. SPUK conference and exhibition will be held at the ICC Birmingham and will attract around 3,000 solar industry dele...

  

• Birmingham Airport combines terminals

  Birmingham Airport has finished phase one of it’s £13m development by merging the previous two terminals into one. The development will also see new shopping facilities opening in the next few months. All departing passengers will now go throu...

  

• Birmingham most popular UK city outside the capital

  Recently published research carried out by CAT Publications has revealed Birmingham to be the most popular conference and events destination in the UK outside of London. The British Meetings and Events industry Survey 2010 revealed that Birmingham was...

  

• Boost in bed spaces with five new hotel developments

  Birmingham’s hotel industry is set for a boost with the opening of five new city centre hotels by summer 2012. The new developments cover a range of accommodation types and budgets, and take the number of bedrooms within walking distance to Th...

  

• Sweet treats for half term from thestudio

  If you’re meeting over the half term you can take advantage of the return of this fantastic “half price/half term” offer… For the week commencing 21st February 2011 thestudio Birmingham is offering day delegate rates starting from as littl...

  

• Conference Aston will welcome thousands of students this summer

  Thousands of students will be flooding into Birmingham this summer as Conference Aston celebrates its busiest year ever of summer schools. Students from as far afield as Russia, Japan, France, Italy and Portugal will be enjoying life in the UK’s sec...

  

• New Year offer from Meetingspace

  Meetingspace, based at Eleven Brindleyplace, has a fantastic New year offer.The venue is offering a discount on meetings booked on a Monday or Friday, details below. From small informal meetings to 60 delegate seminars, the contemporary meeting rooms ...

  

• Meet Birmingham teams up with city partners for Confex

  Meet Birmingham will be bringing six partners to Confex, the UK’s leading conference for event organisers, at Earls Court in London this March as it continues to promote Birmingham as a leading global events city. Partners are Chiltern Railway...

  

• Conference Aston sparks electric car use

  Conference Aston is encouraging visitors to travel to the venue in eco-friednly electrically-powered cars. Some of the first car charging points in the UK have been installed outside the Conference Aston complex by power firm E.ON as part of the £1...

  

• New appointments boost sales success for Conference Aston

  One of Birmingham’s leading conference centres has reinforced its sales team with a pair of key appointments. The recruitment of two sales development managers underlines Conference Aston’s commitment to future growth through dedicated account ma...

  

• City's airport relaunches their brand

  Birmingham Airport has unveiled the design for its new brand identity in the first stage of a phased rebrand programme that aims to reposition the Airport in the market place and showcase its future potential. The essence of the new brand identity, wh...

  

• Work starts on new hotels and restaurant

  Sanguine Hospitality Management is beginning work on two new hotels and a new Marco Pierre White restaurant in Birmingham city centre. Due to open in Summer 2011, the new four-star Hotel Indigo will be on floors 23 and 24 of The Cube, one of the city...

  

• Birmingham sees a bright future in associations business

  As expected following the Government’s comprehensive spending review, there has been a reduction in the number of events being held by public sector bodies, however this reduction hasn’t been as dramatic as the city first feared. In contrast, Birm...

  

• A busy 2011 ahead for BCB

  Birmingham and the Birmingham Convention Bureau have a busy year ahead of them, with some great organisations holding their conferences and events in Birmingham this year. Just a few of the conference highlights confirmed so far in Birmingham are: B...