SPECIAL REPORT: NEC celebrates its 40th anniversary
IT was billed as Britain’s shop window; the place the world would come to see the best the UK had to offer the rest of the world and today the National Exhibition celebrates its 40th birthday.
Written off when it lost its showpiece event, the British Motor Show in 2004, the venue has continued to survive and is now busier than ever and complete with a major new lifestyle development on its doorstep is one of the jewels in the West Midlands’ business landscape.
It was 40 years today that the venue was opened by HM The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh; and she would return in 1989 to open a further three exhibition halls as the showpiece venue continued its expansion.
While now synonymous with the West Midlands and generally acknowledged to be the region’s centre point, the venue was never conceived to be here.
PICTURE GALLERY: NEC celebrates 40th anniversary
It was originally planned for a site close to Junction 21 of the M1 in Leicestershire but was opposed by the county council as a potential white elephant because of the view that the major shows would never leave London.
How wrong they were.
The government granted outline planning permission for the site near Birmingham in November 1971 and the facility, which then comprised 89,000m², opened to the public on February 2, 1976.
The futuristic building was designed by architect Edward Mills.
Over the last 40 years, the NEC has grown in size in order to accommodate an increase in demand for live events – exhibitions and conferences – to be hosted at the venue.
The NEC originally consisted of seven exhibition halls but today provides over 182,000m² of indoor space across 20 interconnecting halls and 34 conference suites.
Commenting on today’s milestone, Paul Thandi, CEO of the NEC Group, said: “Forty years on, the NEC has established itself as the UK’s number one exhibition centre, one of the busiest venues within the wider European market and by some distance a global go-to business in venue management consultancy.
“It welcomes over three million visitors to some of the biggest and best events in the world each year and it’s also a significant driver to the regional economy. All of these well-established characteristics are set to grow significantly with the new entertainment and leisure offering brought on by the newly opened Resorts World by our partners Genting.”
The NEC Group started with the opening of the NEC in 1976, since then it has developed into one of the world’s leading venue management companies, which operates five venues – NEC, ICC, Genting Arena, Barclaycard Arena and the Vox Conference Centre – and manages a range of support services, including a national ticketing agency, The Ticket Factory; a hospitality brand, Amplify; and award winning caterer, Amadeus.
Today, the NEC Group employs around 1,500 people on a permanent basis and a further 300 casual workers. It delivers around £2bn annual impact on the regional economy – around £1.5bn of which is delivered by the NEC – and supports 29,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
The group was purchased by private equity house LDC in January last year in a deal worth £307m when a cash-strapped Birmingham City Council looked to try and raise money from its assets in order to pay off its debts.
“When we look back in another 40 years, I expect the NEC Group’s sale to LDC in early 2015 to be seen as the start of a next generation of growth in product, services and offers from the group at its sites in the heart of the UK events market,” added Thandi.
“As a privately owned business, we now have the opportunity to invest and apply capital in different ways as we target business expansion and the launch of the Sports Show at the NEC, in which we have a 30% financial stake, is an example of how we are looking for new ways to grow our business.
“Our growth will also benefit from exciting regional developments; including HS2 and the emerging West Midlands Combined authority, which we expect to see prosper in 2016.”
When the NEC originally opened, Birmingham International railway station was still being built, Birmingham Airport was still a relatively small airfield known as Elmdon and the M42 didn’t exist.
Today, the NEC is the UK’s best connected venue and easily accessible to the three million visitors to the site each year.
Kathryn James, Managing Director of the NEC, said: “The NEC’s surrounding areas have completely transformed since 1976, most recently with the opening of Resorts World Birmingham. The new leisure and entertainment complex has turned the NEC campus into a 24/7 destination; it’s a game changer for us and our customers and the start of the next exciting chapter in our history.
“Over the next 40 years, expect more developments that will not only continue to add great content on to the NEC site for our customers but will also provide more job opportunities in our neighbourhood.”
Did you know…?
o The original proposal for the NEC in 1970 stated that “it was considered essential that a railway station should be provided to serve this site”. While the train line passed the proposed site, there was no railway station.
o The M42 opened at the end of 1976 but only went as far as Junction 6.
o The lake at the NEC complex is man-made and designed to take away surface water away from the site.
o The Motor Show still holds the record for the highest volume of visitors. When the show moved to the NEC from Earls Court in October 1978, there were around one million visitors. At that time, the NEC only had seven halls.
o ITMA 2003 used the most floor space of any other show. All 20 halls were utilised as well as a number of temporary halls.
o Three different halls have been called Hall 6 since the venue opened including, the NEC’s Pavilion, the current Hall 8 and the current Hall 6.
o The Hilton Birmingham Metropole was built at the same time at the NEC in order to provide accommodation for NEC visitors.
What else was happening in 1976?
o The UK experienced it driest summer since 1772 – the mercury topped 28°C for a record breaking 22 days.
o The average wage was around £72 a week
o Only half of the UK population owned a phone – a landline, that is.
o There were only three TV channels, which mainly showed a test card during the day
o Petrol was 77p a gallon, a pint of milk cost 32p and you could pick up loaf of bread for 19p.
o The first Rocky film hit the big screen
o Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak launched Apple in the US
o The first Concorde with commercial passengers took flight
o NASA unveiled the first space shuttle – Enterprise
o Hollywood A-listers Ryan Reynolds, Resse Witherspoon and Colin Farrell were all born
NEC Timeline:
• 1970 NEC design team formally appointed
• 1971 Planning permission granted for the NEC by the Secretary of State
• 1973 Prime Minister Edward Heath unveils a plaque and cuts the tape to start the construction work
• 1975 The first seven halls are completed
• 1976 Opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Also the NEC’s longest running show, Spring Fair International, takes place for the first time
• 1978 His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent opens the first NEC Motor Show
• 1980 Opening of the Genting Arena also on the NEC site
• 1984 World Convention, Rotary Club, the first meeting in the UK since 1924; also, the opening of the Forum at the Genting Arena
• 1985 Tennis World Young Masters televised with Boris Becker taking the title
• 1990 The Clothes Show opens at the NEC – the first of a series of exhibitions created out of a successful TV show and magazine
• 1991 Crufts moves to the NEC from Earls Court
• 1993 Opening of NEC Halls 9 – 12
• 1998 Opening of NEC Halls 17 – 20
• 2001 Opening of NEC Hall 16
• 2006 Work starts on the NEC Piazza refurbishment
• 2009 The NEC Arena is refurbished and renamed the LG Arena
• 2013 Genting UK starts work on Resorts World Birmingham
• 2015 The LG Arena re-launches as the Genting Arena on the NEC site, supporting the ‘Destination NEC’ strategy
• 2015 Resorts World Birmingham opens on the NEC site
• 2016 NEC celebrates its 40th anniversary
