Four venues within Westminster have come together to provide 97 event spaces as they prepare to re-open in October.
Westminster Campus is a brand-new collaboration of venues comprising of Central Hall Westminster, Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Centre, Church House Westminster and One Great George Street. The collective was created to “provide more safety, security and space for the ‘new normal’ of post-pandemic events in Westminster”.
The Westminster Campus venues will work together to host one event in multiple locations. The partnership will offer one point of contact and one contract per event.
All the venues in the Westminster Campus are members of the Meetings Industry Association (mia) and have achieved AIM Secure, a new professional accreditation featuring infection prevention and control protocols, which demonstrates commitment to the health of staff and customers.
By joining forces, the four venues will be able to provide a total of 97 event spaces within the centre of Westminster.
Before setting up Westminster Campus, the group carried out surveys to its client base to find out expectations and goals. The survey found that 60% of event planners would be interested in hosting an event in a central London location if they were offered increased capacity in partnership with other venues.
The survey also revealed that half of organisers are looking at in-person events from October 2020 to March 2021.
A spokesperson for Westminster Campus said: “This new collective is very exciting, and we believe this is just the beginning of a new way of working for the events industry; not just during these times but into the future.
“The events industry has always been more collaborative than competitive, and it has never been more important to work with others in these very challenging times we are facing. Just as importantly, we want to be able to offer our loyal clients an exemplary service while keeping within Government guidelines to keep us all safe. All the venues involved are committed to giving our clients and our workforce the confidence to return to face-to-face events by maintaining secure, safe and responsible practices.”
Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the mia, says: “It is essential for the long-term survival of the sector that we take a creative approach to offer clever solutions to event buyers, so we are delighted to see four mia members – all based in close proximity in the heart of Westminster – collaborating to enable live business meetings and events to take place safely with lots of space, no matter what their requirements.”
