The NEC Birmingham

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) was designed by the architects Edward Mills and Seymour Harris, opening its doors for the first time in 1976 with Queen Elizabeth II officiating the opening ceremony. The NEC is located on the outskirts of Birmingham adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway station, which makes it the perfect location to host major international trade shows and exhibitions. The total size of the grounds is 611 acres (2.54 km²) and that places the NEC at the top in the ranking of biggest exhibition centres in the UK. In Europe, it ranks as the 7th-largest. Out of the grounds, some 186,000 m² (~2,000,000 sq. ft.) are dedicated to enclosed space, which is then divided into 20 interconnected halls.

The National Exhibition Centre has much to offer to event organisers. There are meeting rooms that can hold anywhere from 10 to 720 people, a ballroom with a maximum capacity of 500 and the Resorts World Arena (once home to the Davies Cup and an Iron Maiden concert), which has 15,683 seats. The NEC offers parking to 16,500 vehicles and continues to expand and modernize as it has received several expansions all through the late 90s and renovations as late as 2018. The events calendar at the NEC is always full and some of the most notable shows to take place there include BBC Gardeners' World Live, BBC Good Food Show, The Skills Show (WorldSkills UK Live), Autosport International, Body Power Expo and Comic Con.