Glasgow's Unique Venues: Offering Flexibility and Diversity to Event Organisers
What do a very large diamond; UEFA President Michel Platini; a popular television current affairs programme, a particle physics experiment, the Scottish Style Awards; a US ‘rock star’ and UK pop band Sugababes all have in common?
The answer is that each has been at the centre of a gala dinner, special event, meeting or product launch that has taken place in Glasgow over the past few months.
Detailed below are just some of the recent highlights from the city’s portfolio of unique venues:
- Glasgow Science Centre
The 5-star visitor attraction Glasgow Science Centre (GSC) recently hosted a drinks reception and glittering gala dinner to celebrate the launch on the River Clyde of HMS Diamond - the Royal Navy’s latest Type 45 Destroyer - which was built at BAE Systems in the city’s Govan district.
The £75 million (€100 million) Glasgow Science Centre’s three landmark buildings – the titanium-clad Science Mall, IMAX Cinema and Glasgow Tower – offer a variety of exhilarating and unusual conference and meeting venue experiences for 50 to 385 delegates and for social events for up to 3,000 guests.
GSC is also home to a stunning, 500m² integrated glass space known as The Atrium, which has the capacity to hold banquet dinners for up to 400 guests; cocktail receptions for up to 500, awards ceremonies plus product launches, exhibitions and fashion shows.
- Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
After re-opening in 2006 following a three-year, £35 million (€47 million) refurbishment, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is the jewel in Glasgow’s cultural crown. It is the most visited museum outside London in the UK and its world-class collection features masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Botticelli and Dali plus its unique arms and armor collection, Ancient Egyptian artifacts and ‘Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style’ gallery.
Kelvingrove’s magnificent Centre Hall has the capacity to take 500 guests for a gala dinner or 1000 for a reception and its spectacular setting was used as the venue for the 2007 UEFA Cup Final Civic Dinner where guests included UEFA President, Michel Platini. In addition, the Brasserie café with its conservatory annexe has the capacity for 160 guests and meeting planners.
Venue hire and booking information can be obtained through the Convention Bureau of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau or via Encore Creative Catering at www.encorecatering.co.uk
- Glasgow City Halls
The City Halls comprises two of Glasgow’s most loved music venues, The City Halls and The Old Fruitmarket. These adjacent “A” listed buildings have been merged into one of the most versatile spaces in Scotland, with a range of facilities accommodating events for 20 to 1,400 guests and an over-all site capacity of up to 3,000.
The Old Fruitmarket with its lofty vaulted roof, cobbled walkways, cast iron columns and balcony, is perfect for product launches, exhibitions and banquets. The Old Fruitmarket has also hosted several high profile awards ceremonies and gala events including the 2007 Scottish Style Awards; The 2007 Tartan Clef Scottish Music Awards on behalf of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy; The BAFTA Scotland Awards and, in November 07, the 2014 Commonwealth Games Announcement Celebration.
Dating from as far back as 1841, The City Halls is Glasgow’s oldest, purpose built performance and meeting space. The venue now houses top class rehearsal, recording, broadcasting and webcasting facilities and offers a wide array of rooms ideal for smaller events or breakout sessions fit for 21st century requirements!
- The Arches
Set in the heart of the city centre, The Arches consists of fourteen Victorian brick-lined railway vaults, which form one of Europe’s foremost multi-purpose arts, meetings and clubbing complexes. This über-hip venue recently hosted the UK product launch for American energy drink, Rock Star, which included a ‘US Diner’ themed champagne reception for delegates and is known for its theatrical touch!
Each of the venue’s full length arches can facilitate a banquet of up to 306 guests and receptions for 400. Combining various arches can raise the capacity to 720 for banquets and 2,000 for parties. Exhibitions are easily catered for throughout the ground floor and the new basement rooms provide excellent small breakout facilities. www.thearches.co.uk
- The Barony Hall at the University of Strathclyde
The Barony Hall at the University of Strathclyde is a stunning venue ideally located in Glasgow city centre with award winning architecture and beautiful stained-glass windows. A flexible venue, it is ideal for dinners, receptions, concerts, exhibitions and conferences. The hall can accommodate up to 220 for gala dinners, up to 600 for receptions and up to 850 people for meetings or concerts.
The Barony has been designed specifically with flexibility in mind to cater for conferences, exhibitions, meetings and trade fairs – complete with all the necessary back up resources of audio visual and public address systems.
In the past few months The Barony has been the venue for a diverse series of events including a live, televised recording of the BBC current affairs programme, Question Time and an acoustic gig by UK pop group, Sugababes, which took place in front of more than 250 specially selected fans and competition winners.
- University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow, which was founded in 1451, is one of the most impressive academic venues in the UK for conferences, meetings, training, exhibitions and product launches.
Amongst its impressive portfolio of unique meetings venues is the magnificent Bute Hall. The latter’s neo-gothic grandeur was the setting for ATLAS Overview Week in summer ‘07 when over 300 scientists and academics from 140 institutions from around the world gathered at the university to contribute to the ATLAS particle physics experiment.
ATLAS Overview Week’ was the first large scale meeting within the university that utilised 21st century Wi-Fi technology within the Victorian surroundings of Bute Hall, allowing every registered delegate access to online resources.
It was also the first time ‘ATLAS Overview Week’ has been held in the UK and marked the university's significant contribution to the experiment and the centenary year of the death of one of its most famous alumni - and Glasgow’s greatest scientist - Lord Kelvin.
Glasgow offers some of the most diverse conference and gala facilities in the country, venues with enough scope and flexibility to adapt to the most challenging of event requirements.
The Convention Bureau of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau provides a one-stop shop to the city’s corporate and incentive meetings product, which encompasses everything from dinner at a distillery to gala events in galleries and museums.
For more information visit www.seeglasgow.com/convention-bureau or contact: conventions@seeglasgow.com
ENDS February 2008
For further information contact:
Moira Dyer, Senior Manager – Public Relations
Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
Tel: +44 (0) 141 566 0831
Email: moira.dyer@seeglasgow.com