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One of the busiest exhibition centers in the country, NEC was originally meant to be built in Leicester, but the county council felt that shows of this nature would never move away from London. As a result, Birmingham became home to the seventh largest exhibition centre in Europe!
The NEC hosts an astounding 180 exhibitions a year. The shows lined up for April’s represent a diverse range, including trade exhibitions like MACH 2008, Electrex 2008, IPFEX 2008, amongst many others. Towards the last week of April, there is also the National Engineering and Construction Recruitment Exhibition, which is open to the public.

The NEC consists of 21 exhibition halls of varying sizes as well as the large NEC Arena - a hall with the capacity to seat 12,300 people. There are other conference halls and arenas owned by the NEC Group in Birmingham such as the National Indoor Arena (NIA), International Convention Center (ICC) and Symphony Hall, all of which are located in the heart of the city.

The NEC has a total area of almost 200,000 square meters and the exhibition site is surrounded by ample car parking space. Since it can be quite a distance from the exhibition center, there are shuttle buses that ply to and fro, for the convenience of the visitors. This spacious exhibition center was inaugurated by the Queen in 1976, and subsequently, 12 years later, the Queen again opened three more halls, considerably adding to the space.

The NEC can be easily reached by road, rail or air; the road access is unparalleled with major motorways running on almost all the sides. Birmingham airport also makes it very convenient, connecting the city to the rest of the world, as well as being a mere stone throw’s away from the exhibition center. There is always train travel of course; the Birmingham train station has a bridge link to the NEC, making getting there effortless.

Staying in the vicinity isn’t too much of a problem either with the Hilton on the very lip of the NEC. The budget-conscious needn’t fret as there are other hotels and inns with rooms available starting at a modest 26. The Crowne Plaza is also in the surrounding environs, with other hotel options scattered far and near.

The NEC also has many conferences running throughout the year, with some famous names appearing in its listings. The facilities that one encounter there are world-class, with gallery suites that can seat up to 700 people quite comfortably. The suites available are the Concourse 1&2 Suites, Concourse Hospitality, Gallery Suites, Piazza Suites and Toute Suite.

The Concourse 1&2 are ideal for meetings and banquets of up to 700 people, whereas the Concourse Hospitality Suites are a group of 13 rooms, with the facility to be interlinked or kept separate, as desired. Then there are the Gallery Suites which are smaller-sized rooms to accommodate around 50 people in 5 suites. There is also a dedicated restaurant servicing the suites. The Piazza Suites are similarly designed, although the Toute Suite has the distinction of two offices within its confines, and is also completely private.

What’s more, to build the perfect visitor experience, the NEC has many other auxiliary facilities on offer, including catering, promotional services, IT-related services, audio-visual technicians and floral services.

Catherine Gliddon writes articles about UK Exhibition Stands and for a UK Exhibitions Company.

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