Academic Venues – Warwick Conferences

Thankfully those days are long gone and there are University and college campuses up and down the country that offer fantastic, modern facilities all year round. The benefits of Academic venues haven’t changed of course. The vast campuses offer lots of car parking, easy access from around the country, varied space option and of course accommodation.

With a new academic year starting we have been visiting some of the best academic venues in the Midlands to see what they have to offer.  First stop was Warwick Conferences who are pushing boundaries for meeting space expectations.

There are 3 main areas for events at Warwick – Scarman, Radcliffe and The Slate offering an abundance of meeting room options from the expected – tiered theatre spaces with fully integrated AV to the forward-thinking relaxed spaces of The Kitchen meeting rooms. The Creative Spaces, including 2 kitchens, have fully functional amenities, including well-stocked fridges and are fantastic spaces to conduct small meetings and even interviews – imagine how much more relaxed and productive you would be sat at the kitchen island with your team or being interviewed after your interviewer has made you a cuppa!

Scarman is bright and vibrant with contemporary bar and social space that you would expect to see in a modern hotel. Private and group dining areas are close by and offer great catering options, including BBQ’s in the beautifully kept patio areas offering privacy and seclusion. The catering team have a flexible approach to group dining allowing organisers to theme their menus with a real focus on local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients.

Radcliffe is across the road and has meeting spaces for up to 160 theatre style, again the spaces are modern and contemporary. Between the two venues they have 358 en-suite bedrooms available all year round.

Not content with the two dedicated conference and event spaces; 6 years ago Warwick Conferences added The Slate to their ever-expanding portfolio. A stand-alone building seemingly sat on the water, offering flexible event space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake. A full-length terrace offers a great pre-dinner drinks reception or coffee break area. Windows can quickly be blacked out with electronic blinds and AV is built in with the addition of comfort screens for larger numbers. The room splits with sound-proof divides allowing for an exhibition and conference under one roof. If that wasn’t enough The Slate has full vehicle access and would make a stunning product launch venue with its privacy and exclusive use status.

Upgrade and refurbishment work hasn’t stopped on the campus during the pandemic with the extensive work on Warwick Arts Centre shortly coming to an end, we were incredibly lucky to get a sneak preview of the near-finished product and it did not disappoint. Massive investment has gone into making the Arts Centre accessible to all, bright and airy foyer areas have been opened up and new cinema screening rooms installed. This facility works for conferences, dinners, screenings and product launches alike – the Butterworth Hall for example has retractable seating allowing for up to 300 cabaret style seating to be added plus the stage retracts and the room of course benefits from state of the art Audio Visual equipment.

To compliment the extensive indoor event space the conference campus has beautiful grounds and areas for team building use, sports facilities and opportunities to spend time in the outdoors and for wellness and headspace.

Justine Meek, Agency Relationship Manager, has worked at Warwick Conferences for over 13yrs and has watched the venue adapt, evolve, and grow. She has genuine excitement and passion for the opportunities the campus offers clients:

I love selling the experiences and creating memories for our clients here at Warwick Conferences, it gives me great pleasure introducing agents into our venues because they are always astounded to see the wide range of venues within our portfolio. I specialise and manage our agent relationships for the business, where I have built strong and very trusted relationships through working with a wide network of meeting professionals during my 13 years here. I have recently been appointed Director of Agents Relations for The Meeting Industry Association, to support the relationships between venues and agents, and I am also part of the sustainability action group for the HBAA, which is a key factor when planning events. This industry is an addictive community which has been highly affected by the pandemic over the last 18 months it has been great to see how pulling together and supporting each other has really made a difference, that’s why I am so passionate about this industry.

Talk to Autograph Events about your next event and the benefits of using Academic Venues. Contact us on 01905 676444 or events@autograph-events.co.uk and we can have a chat about your plans and bringing them to life