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Solent Conference Centre was recently named ‘Best Conference Venue’ at the inaugural Academic Venue Awards, an event to celebrate leading event professionals across the UK.
The award ceremony held on Wednesday 22 November 2017 at Queen Mary’s University London, was the first of its kind bringing together the UK’s top academic venues to share their successes within the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) industry.
The team at Solent Conference Centre beat off stiff competition from 14 nominees and the award comes alongside a further nine award nominations already received by the Conference & Events team since the venue’s launch in June 2016.
The venue is part of a £34 
million redevelopment programme by Southampton Solent University which feeds into the transformational masterplan for the city. The venue, located within the futuristic ‘Spark’ building, boasts a central atrium suitable for large events, exhibitions and performances as well as a further six flexible meeting rooms which transform into conferencing suites, two lecture theatres, a suspended meeting room named ‘The Pod’, a fine dining restaurant, a Starbucks, a convenience store and a delicatessen. The venue also boats a further 35 classrooms which act as break out rooms available outside of the teaching times at the University.
Amber Webster, Venue & Events Manager at Solent Conference Centre said of the award:
"We are delighted to have been recognised as a leader in conferencing among our industry peers. This award is a direct result of all the hard work undertaken by our team to make The Spark a leading conference centre in the UK with a focus on innovative event design, unique conferencing experiences and exceptional customer service.”