HIC Talk

Harrogate International Centre (HIC) recently held a ‘topping out’ ceremony to mark a significant milestone in the construction of its new £13m event halls, complete with a garden roof.

Wates Construction, the contractor responsible for building the venue’s 68,000 sqm new exhibition space and additional car parking facilities, held the event to celebrate the placement of the building’s roof.

The development includes two new event halls totalling 3,300 square metres.  Providing an extra 20% capacity, with its improved flexibility, it will allow multiple events to run alongside each other.

The ‘topping out’ ceremony, also attended by senior figures from Harrogate’s council and community, is a pagan tradition historically held to bring luck when construction of the uppermost point of a new building is complete.

To mark the occasion, Wates Construction presented HIC Director, Angus Houston with gifts customary of topping out; a yew tree, to be placed on the uppermost part of the building to appease tree-dwelling spirits; wheat to symbolise abundance; and oil to signify liberty and prosperity. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday 3 August, Harrogate International Centre (HIC) signed a three year deal that will see the Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair and the Harrogate Nursery Fair remain in Harrogate until at least 2015.

Both shows will be expanding to make use of HIC’s new event halls – due to be completed in late 2011. The events will have a substantial economic impact on the destination, bringing in excess of £10 million revenue each year to the town and district.

Robert Anslow, a director of the two shows, commented: “HIC has invested more than £11 million in their new halls and we are keen to demonstrate our own desire to continue investing in the venue and destination by committing to holding our events here for at least the next three years.  The Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair first came to Harrogate more than 60 years ago, when it was simply called the Harrogate Toy Fair.  During this time we have seen dramatic changes in HIC’s offering in terms of both space and facilities.  However, the one thing that has remained constant is the service levels and desire to work in partnership, helping us create industry renowned shows. Read the rest of this entry »

Harrogate International Centre (HIC), one of the most impressively integrated conference, exhibition and events venues in Europe has appointed two new staff members, Tracey Garrett and Rebecca Turnbull, to strengthen its sales and marketing team.

Angus Houston, director of the HIC said: “We welcome the new members to HIC’s dynamic team. Both Tracey and Rebecca have a wide range of experience and we look forward to their influence and dynamism in promoting HIC. They join at a hugely exciting phase in our development, just as our £11 million capital investment is underway which will see the opening of two new exhibition halls. It is a challenging time for the event industry as the market looks fiercely competitive. We are confident that the investment in our sales and marketing team will pay dividends as we look forward to an exciting future in the business.” Read the rest of this entry »

2011 marks 50 golden years of the Home and Gift trade show at the Harrogate International Centre (HIC) bringing almost £6 million to the local economy each year.

The HIC and the town will be buzzing from 17 to 20 July when 17 venues, including all eight exhibition halls at HIC, will be welcoming over 12,000 visitors and buyers from 39 countries.

As the largest annual trade show to be held at the HIC  with exhibitors selling giftware, home accessories, fashion, greetings and stationery for the autumn season, it is crucial for retailers who want to beat the rush and stock up with inspired purchases for the Christmas and New Year period.

The event is organised by Clarion Events, the UK’s largest independent exhibition organiser. As a testament to the show’s growth over the years and its success in becoming an exhibition of choice for manufacturers and retailers, more than 900 exhibitors will attend this year’s show. Read the rest of this entry »

During the month when HIC welcomes Home & Gift, a trade show celebrating 50 years in Harrogate and attracting over 13,000 visitors, Harrogate International Centre (HIC), one of the UK’s leading destination and event venues, has today announced the appointment of three new non-executive directors to its Board.

The appointments are aligned with the progressive, strategic development of HIC’s business model, which culminates at the turn of the year with the completion of an £11million pound capital investment programme to complement its existing facilities.

Nigel McClea, Maggie Punyer and Richard Taylor will join the Board in late summer, with a very specific high level of expertise, to support the profile of HIC’s core business.  The profiles of the three non–executive directors are: Read the rest of this entry »

Harrogate International Centre, which has achieved a remarkable £180 million for the local economy during the 2010/11 financial year, has attributed its success to its marketing and sales strategy.

HIC’s head of sales and marketing; Alison Griffin said: “Our success in the last financial year would not have been possible had we not adopted a range of new and exciting marketing strategies. We knew the challenges that the industry was facing because of the global recession but were determined to create more opportunities for business by being creative and optimising our marketing and sales avenues. We decided to go that extra mile by taking a few risks and using whatever resources we had. Some of the strategies we adopted were quite simple and cost effective like making extensive use of social media. We needed to have faith in our team and I am pleased to report that it paid great dividends.” Read the rest of this entry »

One of the special charms of an international event venue located away from a huge city is that the centre does not work in isolation but it functions as a part of the community. And it is precisely for this reason that Harrogate is such a special destination for conferences and event.

The location of HIC on the cusp of the ruggedly spectacular Yorkshire Dales makes it really a unique venue. Moreover, whenever there is an event the local communities never fail to show their closeness and warmth to visitors, and it is the friendliness of the local community that keeps delegates and organisers returning year after year.

At Harrogate International Centre (HIC) we pride ourselves on delivering a first class service to our exhibitors and visitors. However, we are very aware of the occasional inconvenience caused by having a world class venue in the middle of a culturally rich place like Harrogate, which is why we work so closely with the local community. Read the rest of this entry »

Leading event organiser Brintex has announced a new law enforcement conference to take place at Harrogate International Centre later this summer.

Managing Director, Malcolm Taylor, explains why HIC is the venue of choice for this new conferencing event – Leading Change in Policing: “We needed a venue that could enable some 350 delegates to have both plenary and breakout sessions over three days and the versatility of the Queen’s Suite at HIC met all the requirements.  Having Hall D alongside is ideal for the accompanying exhibition.”

The event is supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers, which brings together the expertise and experience of chief police officers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and provides a professional forum to share ideas, co-ordinate resources and help deliver effective policing to keep the public safe. Members of the Association will be invited to attend the event to review and discuss the best strategies for achieving the aims and tough targets set independently by the Association, and by government policy. Read the rest of this entry »

Harrogate International Centre (HIC) has achieved a remarkable £180 million for the local economy during the 2010/11 financial year.

HIC’s head of sales and marketing; Alison Griffin said “This is a great achievement for us in the face of tough economic times and truly demonstrates the positive effect we have on Harrogate as a town and the local region.  As one of the largest businesses in Harrogate we would expect to have a substantial impact but this clearly demonstrates the value of events.  There are so many opportunities here for local business: from shops and taxi companies to restaurants and bars; to gain from the hundreds of thousands of visitors we bring to the town every year – a fact that is clearly demonstrated by this figure.”

The last year has been a challenging one for the events industry as a whole, yet Harrogate International Centre has continued to invest in new facilities, that will help bring long term prosperity and growth to the Centre and consequently the local people directly affected by its economic impact.  In particular work started on two new event halls that are due to open in Autumn 2011. On average, HIC hosts around 150 events and attracts in excess of 290,000 visitors each year, and is consistently acknowledged to be one of the UK’s top event venues.

Alison continues:  “The events industry has been particularly competitive in the last year and much of our success can be directly attributed to targeted marketing, attracting the right shows and the development of an ideal event offering.  Our excellent service levels have also helped us to retain a number of clients who were seeking additional support and advice from our in-house expertise.”

Recently, the Stroke Association has chosen Harrogate International Centre as the venue for their annual conference for the next three years (2012-14).  This event alone is likely to be worth a total of £6.6 million to the town and area.

The UK Stroke Forum Conference, hosted by The Stroke Association, has chosen Harrogate International Centre as the venue for their annual conference for the next three years (2012-14).  The conference, which is a three day event, is the latest in a series of medical contracts that HIC has recently announced.

Alison Griffin, Head of Sales and Marketing at Harrogate said:  “The UK Stroke Forum’s decision to choose us for their annual conference for three years comes against the back-drop of our recent run of medical event success stories. A three day conference such as this always has a substantial impact on the local economy.  In fact, if we use Visit Britain’s economic impact calculations this announcement could be worth a total of £6.6 million to the town and area. The Stroke Association plays a vital role in combating strokes in people of all age groups. The conference is crucial for influencing health care policy and we look forward to welcoming them.”

Sally Atkinson of the UK Stroke Forum (UKSF) said: “The UKSF conference is the largest multidisciplinary stroke conference of its kind. The event caters for professionals working at all stages of the stroke care pathway and as such the programme is broad with various parallels, workshops and plenaries.  HIC provides the flexibility and space needed for our varied programme as well as our extensive exhibition area which will be housed in the two new event halls.  The UKSF conference venue relocates every three years and we are pleased to be returning to Harrogate, where we have held the event in previous years and been looked after extremely well by the events team.  We are also delighted with their offer to host a networking event at the Sun Pavilion which has really enhanced the social events side of UKSF. We are confident of HIC’s expertise in co-ordinating conferences on this scale and are really looking forward to working with them again.”

HIC is building new halls to boost the long term competitiveness of its facilities, the scheme, which will also include public realm improvements, is expected to be ready by the end of 2011. The new halls will be used throughout the UK Stroke Forum Conference.