Scotland’s largest exhibition centre has been given a new name to reflect the venue’s development as an international events hub, according to the venue’s chief executive.
Formerly known as the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, the Scottish Event Campus, located in Glasgow, has seen two significant additions to the site – the Armadillo (main picture) and The SSE Hydro concert arenas – since opening over 30 years ago.
Chief executive Peter Duthie says “the decision and announcement comes at a time when the company has seen changes in the nature of the business it now operates. The name Scottish Event Campus better describes the site, is more representative of what we do and reflects a vision for the future.
“We believe that this is the perfect time for a revamp of our brand, building on the success of the business to date.
He adds: “We also want to showcase that the SEC is able to stage large scale events – capitalising on the huge success of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and more recently Ignition Festival of Motoring, both great examples of utilisation of all areas of our campus, internally and externally.”
The SEC worked with local design agency Freytag Anderson on the rebrand.
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Awards
SEC has been the recipient of multiple awards, including Large Venue of the Year at the UK Event Awards, Best Event Space at the Event Magazine Awards and Venue of the Year at the Exhibition News Awards most recently.
A promising future
The campus is due to host 47 exhibitions this year, including seven first-timers.
Over the next 5 years, the SEC is set to welcome over 100 conferences from the international, European and UK association market, as well as corporate events, governmental and religious meetings.
The expected attendees represent sectors including medical research, life sciences, technology, engineering, the voluntary sector, FMCG, veterinary medicine, lifestyle, retail and political parties.
Venue profile
The SEC comprises three separate buildings that can host over 10,000 people for events: SEC Centre, SEC Armadillo and The SSE Hydro (above).
The SEC Centre and 3,000-seat SEC Armadillo offer 22,344 sqm of event space combined.
With capacity for 13,000, the SSE Hydro hosts around 140 events a year, including national and international music acts as well as global entertainment and sporting events.
Last year, the venue welcomed 1.8 million visitors, half a million of which attended exhibitions.
The SSE Hydro staged 77 events, 107 performances and welcomed 826,400 visitors for these.
Event highlights included sold out performances from Justin Bieber and Adele, The Mobo Awards being broadcast live from the venue and hosting Andy Murray Live for the first time.
