National Exhibition Centre

History

The NEC was originally going to be built adjacent to the M1 motorway (junction 21) near Leicester but it was turned down by Leicestershire County Council with claims that "The big shows won't move away from London".

In November 1971, the Secretary of State for the Environment granted outline planning approval for the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. On 16 February 1973, then Prime Minister Edward Heath travelled up from London to cut a white ribbon and initiate its construction, which was carried out by RM Douglas (known today as Tilbury Douglas), to a design by Edward Mills. The NEC was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 2 February 1976.

Expansion of the complex

The seventh hall of the NEC complex, a multi-purpose indoor arena named the Birmingham International Arena (currently branded BP Pulse Live), opened in December 1980.

On 23 March 1989, Queen Elizabeth II opened three new halls. Four more halls were added in 1993, and another four new halls, designed by Seymour Harris and built by John Laing, were completed in January 1998.

A five-year, £40 million venue improvement programme which saw improvements made to everything from the car parking to signage, seating and catering was carried out between 2006 and 2011.

Exhibitions

The NEC has 18 interconnected halls covering 186000 m2 of floor space, 32 purpose-built conference suites and 440 acres of flexible space. Regular exhibitions in the past have included the British International Motor Show and the international dog show Crufts.

The NEC has 16,500 parking spaces spread around the site, with a free shuttle bus service operating to and from the car parks.

NEC Group

Parent company the NEC Group also owns and operates the Arena Birmingham and ICC Birmingham, both in central Birmingham, and bp pulse LIVE, based on The NEC site. Birmingham City Council placed the NEC Group up for sale in 2014. After short-listing three contenders to purchase the company, the sale to Lloyds Development Capital, the private equity unit of Lloyds Banking Group, was completed in January 2015 for £307 million. In October 2018, Blackstone acquired NEC Group from Lloyds Development Capital, paying around £800 million for the group.

Emergency hospital

Main article: NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham

From early April 2020 the NEC housed NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham, an emergency hospital scheduled to open on 10 April, and receive its first patients on 12 April, as part of a network of NHS Nightingale Hospitals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 1 April 2021 the hospital was closed without ever treating a patient.

Gallery

File:NEC hall 3a 11y07.JPG|Preparations for an exhibition in Hall 3a File:NEC inside atrium 11y07.JPG|View from inside the atrium File:NEC atrium roof 10y07.JPG|Atrium roof structure File:NEC atrium gallery 11y07.JPG|The atrium showing an upper level called the Gallery File:NEC horizontal escalator 11y07.JPG|Moving walkway File:The NEC Pavilion - geograph.org.uk - 985608.jpg|NEC Pavilion (2008) File:Atrium Entrance 2, National Exhibition Centre - geograph.org.uk - 81173.jpg|NEC Atrium entrance 2 (2005) File:NEC atrium entrance3 10y07.JPG|NEC Atrium entrance 3 (2007) File:NEC shuttle bus 10y07.JPG|An NEC Plaxton Pointer 1 bodied Dennis Dart SLF shuttle bus outside atrium entrance 2

References

References

1. "All About - NEC Birmingham - Birmingham Live".
2. Brown, Graeme. (16 January 2015). "Ten top facts about the NEC". [[Birmingham Mail]].
3. (5 March 2014). "NEC Group sell-off: 40 years of events, exhibitions and concerts". BBC.
4. (8 December 2015). "Assessing the future: your qualification, our regulation".
5. "Our history". Tilbury Douglas.
6. (29 January 1998). "Edward Mills, innovator in concrete, dies aged 82". Architects Journal.
7. (15 June 2015). "Birmingham's NEC is gearing up to celebrate 40th birthday". Birmingham Mail.
8. (2014-03-05). "NEC: From Eurovision to the G8".
9. (15 June 2015). "National Exhibition Centre celebrates 40th birthday". Birmingham Live.
10. (29 January 1998). "National Exhibition Centre". New Civil Engineer.
11. (23 March 2005). "In Thursday's Birmingham Post". Birmingham Live.
12. "Exhibitions". thenec.co.uk.
13. (19 February 2001). "NEC widens its window on the world". The Guardian.
14. "Car Parking". thenec.co.uk.
15. Griffin, Jon. (14 January 2015). "NEC Group Set to Be Sold for Price Tag Up to PS300m". Birmingham Mail.
16. Morris, Steven. (2014-03-05). "Birmingham city council to sell National Exhibition Centre".
17. (2015-01-16). "NEC group sold off in £307m deal". BBC News.
18. (12 October 2018). "Blackstone acquires the NEC Group".
19. (2018-10-15). "NEC Group sold 'for £800m'". BBC News.
20. (3 April 2020). "Birmingham's Nightingale Hospital to be operational within days". [[Express and Star]].
21. (27 March 2020). "Coronavirus: Birmingham and Manchester temporary hospitals announced".
22. "Covid: Birmingham's Nightingale hospital closes without seeing any patients".