April 1, 2016
Colworth Park is not only the place to do science, it’s building a reputation for excellence in events and conferencing too – raising its profile as one of the most beautiful places in England for a meeting or business function.
The science park set in 91 acres of rolling parkland on the edge of the village of Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire is also home to The Exchange, a modern 54,000 state of the art centre with 20,000ft dedicated to meetings, conferencing and catering,
Two major events this year have helped to showcase these facilities to a national audience: the prestigious UKSPA conference attended by leading figures across the science park sector and this month’s Confex International.
The latter, held at London Olympia, is considered the UK’s leading event for the events and conference booking industry and the Colworth Park Conference and Events were there – with their stall resulting in a lot of interest over the course of the two days.
Since 1983 Confex has been the go-to event for thousands of event buyers – professional and commercial conference and exhibition organisers, corporates, agencies and associations seeking venue, destination and suppler inspiration.
Last year more than 6,700 core professional buyers attended the show, with over one third of them hol
ding more than 20 events per year. Nearly a third of them have a budget upwards of £200,000.
In addition to the refurbished facilities – which include a 250 seat lecture theatre and restaurant – a new catering team have taken charge with a head chef that has served his apprenticeship in some of London’s top kitchens.
Nicola Massey, Conference and Events Manager, Colworth Park, said: “We’ve come a long way over the past year and it was great to be able to share our offer at Colworth Park and show some of the UK’s biggest events bookers what we have here. It certainly put us on the map.
“With a fantastic team in place and investment to ensure our facilities meet every business need. These are exciting days for both Colworth Park and it was great to share that story.”
The Exchange at Colworth Park is able to support a wide range of requests from board meetings, product launches and training courses to seminars, full scale conferences and evening dinners.
It has its own experienced events and conferencing manager and team who are able to offer a bespoke service to meet requests from clients to all meet their needs, with a variety of spaces available and a full catering service.
The site’s new head chef, Danny Marshall started his chef career in 1998 when he lived in London and worked for celebrity chef Brian Turner. He also worked for Marco Pierre White at his restaurant, Mirabelle.
In 2006 Danny became the Head Chef at the award winning Falcon Inn, Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire.