10
Academic Venues
How the scene
is changing
CN talks to Kelly Vickers, director at MeetCambridge, to
find out how academic venues are changing with the times
ow has the academic
venue brand evolved over
recent years?
The academic venue was
once seen as a basic, no frills, option
but that has changed significantly
over the years and today organisers
are not only benefitting by having
access to some of the most iconic
buildings in the UK, they are also
benefitting from the huge
investments that our venues are
making in their facilities and their
catering and event staff.
Several the Cambridge Colleges
now have dedicated, conference
centres on-site, where organisers
can enjoy exclusive use, top end AV
equipment and an excellent standard
of accommodation, with a range of
styles to suit most budgets. All the
Colleges have their own event teams
too where, thanks to rigorous training
and ongoing staff development,
organisers can be assured that they
will receive an efficient and
professional service when they host
events here.
Facilities and service now rival that
of hotels and other dedicated
conference centres, so much so that
the academic venue brand is very
much a mainstream option now
rather than niche.
What new investments have been
made over the last year and what is
planned?
Recognising the need for year-round
accommodation for events, Jesus
College has opened its West Court
facility which boasts multi-functional
meeting facilities and hotel style
bedrooms and apartments. Trinity
Hall has recently opened a new
meeting and accommodation space,
WYNG Gardens. It’s situated close to the riverside in the centre
of the city and is already proving popular with organisers who
like its location and its spacious, contemporary rooms.
Newnham College opened its Dorothy Garrod building at the
end of 2018, the space offers flexible meeting facilities for up to
150 delegates, as well as a rooftop room and terrace, which
boasts wonderful views over the city. The development also
included 81 double en suite bedrooms, perfect for residential
conferences or indeed short B&B breaks.
Twenty-five percent of our academic venues have plans to
either add to or improve their current offering in the next few
years.
What other issues are most important for clients?
AV is always top of the agenda but increasingly, and this is an
area that we excel in, is the need to be able to tap into the
university’s expertise. We act as facilitators, helping to connect
people with people, whether that’s an organiser looking to find a
www.conference-news.co.uk
great speaker or a corporate
organisation seeking opportunities
for collaboration.
We’re also acutely aware
that organisers are increasingly
looking for venues with green
credentials, as academic venues,
many of the spaces that we promote
are already monitoring their
environmental impact and looking at
ways to help organisers make
meetings more sustainable. We
ourselves have recently joined the
Green Tourism initiative and we’re
working with our venues on achieving
accreditation.
Many of the organisations using
our academic venues are doing so
because they have a commitment to
social responsibility, they know that
profit generated by commercial
activity is used in support of core
educational functions at the
property; the opportunity to hold an
event whilst being able to give
something back is attractive to
organisers.
Another example of the way in
which academic venues are
diversifying here in Cambridge is the
B&B product. For a number of years,
In the vacation periods, a large
proportion of the colleges open their
doors to leisure visitors, adults are
able to book B&B in a college room
to enjoy the experience of seeing
Cambridge from the inside.
Cambridge is a busy city and
having this extra availability of
bedrooms for visitors has proved
popular. Having the opportunity to
breakfast in ancient halls or walk in
perfectly manicured gardens is very
appealing, it’s an experience that you
just wouldn’t get from a standard
B&B stay.