New hotel offers business boost to NEC
The National Exhibition Centre has welcomed a new hotel development, set to open on the site of its former headquarters.
Offices will be transformed into bedrooms following The NEC Group’s sale of the NEC House building to a joint venture between developers Carillion and New World Leisure.
The 60,000 sq ft building, sold with 2.3 acres of land, will be transformed into a 166-bedroom Ramada Encore hotel, providing much needed additional accommodation on site.
In order to complete the sale, almost 400 employees were relocated from NEC House to new offices above the exhibition halls, putting them ‘above the shop’.
Paul Thandi, NEC Group Chief Executive, said: “Every year, we welcome 2.4 million visitors to The NEC from across the UK and around the world and this latest development will provide increased flexibility and convenience when they are planning their visit.”
“Another advantage for us as a business is that we now have the majority of our customer-facing staff and all of our corporate functions right at the heart of The NEC. This lets us offer a more immediate and responsive service for all of our customers, while experiencing the vibrant and dynamic exhibition atmosphere of our product every day. I am sure that this move will also lead to even further creativity when improving the customer experience.”
Mark Wright, Development Director, Carillion, said: “The NEC House development must be this year’s most exciting new hotel project in the UK, enjoying a first class location with easy access to The NEC Piazza, Birmingham International Station and Birmingham International Airport."
"Whilst conversion projects bring many challenges, our team has been working closely with The NEC Group since exchanging contracts 18 months ago and we are now ready for our fast track construction phase of this project to create our new contemporary Ramada Encore hotel”.
Renovation work will now begin on the 15-year-old building, with the hotel due to open in early 2009.
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