RIBA Venues, the conference and events arm of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), today announces a 21 per cent increase in external events at the venue in 2015 compared with 2014 which lead to a 22 per cent increase in turnover.
The venue hosted 795 external events between January and December 2015 compared with 634 events over the same period in 2014. The rise in events has produced a 17 per cent increase in profit, which is put back into the RIBA charity.
RIBA Venues has seen a particular rise in large events at the venue including fashion shows (106%) and drinks receptions (105%) in 2015. There has also been a 69 per cent increase in corporate dinners, 45 per cent increase in awards dinners, a 20 per cent increase in conferences and a 30 per cent increase in weddings.
The rise in events at the venue can be attributed to a drive to attract more weekend and evening event business and larger events.
RIBA Venues’ Head of Venues, Stephanie Ellrott, says: “After a strong start to the year we did not expect this level of growth to continue throughout the year. We are very proud to have outperformed our already strong market share last year by over 20 per cent in a time when our competition grows and the market more or less stagnates.
“We have worked rigorously to improve our service levels, built a strong sales team, concentrated on strong proactive sales activities and ventured into niche markets with a great return and we look forward to seeing more of the same in 2016.”
RIBA Venues will continue to grow its conference business for events for up to 400 people in 2016. It will also see phase two of its upgrade to AV facilities and hopes to boost its summer party business with its outside roof terrace space which hosts up to 150 people.
