The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) celebrated its 40th birthday on Tuesday 2 February; marking 40 years since HM Queen Elizabeth II visited Birmingham to open the venue.

 

Over the last 40 years, the NEC has grown in size in order to accommodate an increase in demand for live events - exhibitions and conferences - to be hosted at the venue. The NEC originally consisted of seven exhibition halls but today provides over 182,000 square metres of indoor space across 20 interconnecting halls and 34 conference suites. 

 

Commenting on the NEC’s milestone year, Paul Thandi, CEO of the NEC Group, said: “Forty years on, the NEC has established itself as the UK’s number one exhibition centre, one of the busiest venues within the wider European market and by some distance a global go-to business in venue management consultancy. It welcomes over three million visitors to some of the biggest and best events in the world each year and it’s also a significant driver to the regional economy. All of these well-established characteristics are set to grow significantly with the new entertainment and leisure offering brought on by the newly opened Resorts World by our partners Genting.”