 | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Westminster, London 51°30′02″N0°07′44″W / 51.5005°N 0.129°W |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities |
| Website | www |
The Queen Elizabeth II Centre is a conference facility located in the City of Westminster, London, close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Central Hall Westminster and Parliament Square.
The site now occupied by the Queen Elizabeth II Centre was previously occupied by several buildings. At the northern end of the site were the headquarters of the Stationery Office, which had originally been the "Parliamentary Mews" built in 1825 by Decimus Burton and converted from 1853 to 1855. The southern side was occupied by the Westminster Hospital, built by W & H W Inwood from 1831 to 1834, and expanded later that century and again in 1924. The previous buildings became surplus to requirements in 1950 and were demolished; designs were drawn up by Thomas S. Tait for building a new Colonial Office on the site; however only the foundations had been built by the time progress was halted in 1952. [1]
In 1958, it was decided that there would be an open space on the southern edge of the site by Broad Sanctuary, and an architectural competition for a conference hall and government offices was held in 1961. The competition was won by William Whitfield, but the scheme was not executed due to the plans for redeveloping Whitehall drawn up by Leslie Martin in 1965. The site remained in limbo until a feasibility study for the conference centre was drawn up in 1975. The centre as eventually built was designed by Powell Moya & Partners and constructed by Bovis Construction [2] with work starting in 1981; [1] it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.
The centre is owned by HM Government and its operation is conducted by an executive agency of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It has 32 versatile "empty box" style rooms which are suitable for a range of events. It specialises in events for between 40 and 1,300 delegates. It also has 2,000 square metres of exhibition space. The centre is a very successful venue hosting over 400 meetings each year and returning an annual dividend to the Exchequer, thus not reliant on the taxpayer for financial support. It has been used as the venue to announce the new Leader of the Conservative Party in 2019 and 2022.
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace. The Elizabeth Tower of the palace, nicknamed Big Ben, is a landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
Tower 42, commonly known as the NatWest Tower, is a 183-metre-tall (600 ft) skyscraper in the City of London. It is the sixth-tallest tower in the City of London and the 19th-tallest in London overall. Its original name was the National Westminster Tower, having been built to house NatWest's international headquarters. Seen from above, the shape of the tower resembles that of the NatWest logo.
The Methodist Central Hall is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster, London, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre. The building also houses an art gallery, a restaurant, and office spaces. It contains 22 conference, meeting and seminar rooms, the largest being the Great Hall, which seats 2,300. Central Hall also acts as an important spiritual and sacred place for Methodists.
The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, England on the south bank of the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark,. As such, the South Bank may be regarded as somewhat akin to the riverside part of an area known previously as Lambeth Marsh and North Lambeth.
The International Convention Centre (ICC) is a major conference venue in Birmingham, England. The centre incorporates Symphony Hall and faces Centenary Square, with another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Westside area, which includes Brindleyplace, is opposite the building on the other side of the canal. The centre is owned and operated by the NEC Group, who is also responsible for the nearby Arena Birmingham, just to the west of the complex.
The Church House is the home of the headquarters of the Church of England, occupying the south end of Dean's Yard next to Westminster Abbey in London. Besides providing administrative offices for the Church Commissioners, the Archbishops' Council and the Church of England Pensions Board, and a chamber for the General Synod, the building also provided a meeting place for the Parliament of the United Kingdom during World War II, and for some of the organs of the newly formed United Nations afterwards, including the first meeting of the UN Security Council. It has more recently been the venue for several notable public inquiries.
Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The 197-acre (80 ha) site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, parkland, sports facilities, and a number of civic, provincial, and national historic sites. The district's facilities are used year-round for exhibitions, trade shows, public and private functions, and sporting events.
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames.
The Hub is a public arts and events building in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Located at the top of the Royal Mile, it is a prominent landmark as its tall Gothic spire is the highest point in central Edinburgh, and towers over the surrounding buildings below Edinburgh Castle.
The Business Design Centre is a Grade II listed building located between Upper Street and Liverpool Road in the district of Islington in London, England. It was opened in 1862, originally named the Agricultural Hall and from 1884 the Royal Agricultural Hall, for holding agricultural shows. It was the home of the Royal Smithfield Club's Smithfield Show from 1862 to 1938. It hosted the Royal Tournament from its inauguration in 1880 until the event became too large for the venue and moved to Olympia in the early years of the 20th century. It hosted the first Crufts dog show in 1891.
Queen's Gate House, still commonly known by its previous name of Baden-Powell House, is a conference centre in South Kensington, London. It was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and has served as the headquarters for The Scout Association, as a hostel providing modern and affordable lodging for Scouts, Guides, their families and the general public staying in London and as a conference and event venue.
The Winter Gardens is a large entertainment complex in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which includes a theatre, ballroom and conference facilities. Opened in 1878, it is a Grade II* listed building, operated by Blackpool Entertainment Company Limited on behalf of Blackpool Council, which purchased the property from Leisure Parcs Ltd as part of a £40 million deal in 2010.
The Belém Cultural Center is a complex of artistic venues located in Belém in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. It is the largest building with cultural facilities in Portugal, with over 140,000 m2 (1,500,000 sq ft) of usable space. The centre was initially built to accommodate the programme of Portugal's Presidency of the European Council in 1992, but with the long-term goal of providing permanent venues for conferences, exhibitions and performance arts, in addition to meeting halls, shops and cafés.
One Great George Street (OGGS) is a four-domed grade II listed Edwardian building used as a conference and wedding venue just off Parliament Square in Westminster, London, England. The building is the global headquarters of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE); it was originally solely a venue for ICE members to meet informally and for conferences, but became available for public events in 1989. It is near the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and St James's Park.
Harrogate Convention Centre is a convention and exhibition centre in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.
New Palace Yard is a yard northwest of the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London, England. It is part of the grounds not open to the public. However, it can be viewed from the two adjoining streets, as a result of Edward Middleton Barry, who also assisted with its landscaping, having used railings rather than walls or fencing in its design. The yard has existed since about the year 1100, but was greatly reduced in the 18th century to allow for the construction of new streets and buildings, the most notable of which is the wing taking up the eastern end and having the most prominent tower of the current palace. Speaker's Green fronts the Thames. An underground car park used by Members of Parliament is beneath. Before latest incarnations of the palace, the yard was an open public space used diversely such as for speeches, tournaments, pilloryings, and executions. It has twice been the scene of terrorist attacks.
Lindley Hall in Elverton Street, Westminster, London is the older of the two Royal Horticultural Halls and is owned by RHS Enterprises Limited, which is part of the charity Royal Horticultural Society in central London. The other is Lawrence Hall, which is no longer owned by the RHS; both are close to Vincent Square.
The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings and also the National Theatre and BFI Southbank repertory cinema. Following a rebranding of the South Bank Centre to Southbank Centre in early 2007, the Hayward Gallery was known as the Hayward until early 2011.
The Horticulture Building, which houses the Toronto Event Centre, is a heritage building at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, containing event and conference space. It was built in 1907 for the display of horticulture during the annual Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), and it is a listed heritage building.
The history of the Palace of Westminster began in the Middle Ages – in the early eighth century – when there was an Anglo-Saxon church dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle which became known as the West Minster. In the tenth century the church became a Benedictine abbey and was adopted as a royal church, which subsequently became a royal palace in the 11th century.
Media related to Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
