Conferences for up to 1,400 people seated theatre style, banquets for 1,000 and standing receptions for 1,800 can be organized at the National Conference Centre in Bickenhill, Solihull, on the eastern edge of Birmingham. The venue sits within the National Motorcycle Museum at junction 6 of the M42, and its event rooms are spread over five floors that can be linked for plenary sessions and breakouts.
Seminars and company events
The same building handles annual conferences, exhibitions, product launches, awards dinners, training days and Christmas parties, indoors and outdoors. The largest room, the Britannia Suite, is on the ground floor just off the marble reception hall. Exhibitors can drive vehicles up to the room to unload, the floor has no columns, and built-in soundproof partitions divide it into smaller sections. Multiple three-phase power points and built-in rigging points let high-production conferences run on the in-house AV infrastructure, without bringing in an outside staging company. The room has natural daylight and full blackout. Smaller suites on the upper floors serve as breakout rooms or as self-contained meeting rooms for groups of about 50 to 130.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are held all year. The Imperial Suite, with a sweeping staircase and crystal chandeliers, takes up to 700 wedding guests and opens onto the Trafalgar Suite for the drinks reception. The Britannia Suite, with high ceilings, chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows, suits daytime celebrations and links to the Manxman Suite for drinks. The team has experience with Sikh, Hindu and Muslim weddings and with Greek Orthodox celebrations, and works with a list of approved Asian caterers. A dedicated wedding coordinator handles enquiries.
Rooms and capacities
The website gives 13 or 15 event spaces depending on the page, and nine suites carry published figures. The Britannia Suite covers 890 square meters, or 1,986 with the adjoining rooms, and takes 1,400 theatre, 1,000 banquet, 750 classroom, 672 cabaret and 1,800 for a reception. The Imperial Suite takes 1,300 theatre, 760 banquet, 700 classroom and 1,600 standing. The Premier Suite and the combined Compton and Manxman Suites each seat 400 theatre style, with receptions of 550 and 500. The Trafalgar Suite takes 300 theatre and 600 standing, the Waterloo Suite 200 theatre and 350 standing, and the Bracebridge and Ballacraine Suites 130 theatre and 500 standing each. The Kirkmichael Suite, the smallest, takes 60 banquet and 48 classroom.
Accommodation
There are no bedrooms in the building. Two sister hotels add more than 200 rooms: the four-star Manor Hotel in the village of Meriden, with 112 bedrooms, five minutes by car, and the Windmill Village Hotel, Golf and Spa, with 105 bedrooms, an 18-hole course and a spa, about 15 minutes away. Around 2,000 hotel beds lie within a five-minute drive.
Catering
Catering is in-house, prepared by the venue's own chefs, and a café operates on site in the museum. For Asian weddings, approved outside caterers can be brought in.
Getting there
Birmingham International station and Birmingham Airport are both about five minutes away, as is the NEC. Birmingham city center is 20 to 25 minutes by car, and central London, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol about two hours. The address is Coventry Road, Bickenhill, B92 0EJ; approach roads are signed for the National Motorcycle Museum. There are more than 1,000 free parking spaces, with electric vehicle charging points.
