The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in

Marston Green Marston Green is a village in the civil parish of Bickenhill and Marston Green, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands. It lies within the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire ...

, England, near to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

. It is near junction 6 of the

M42 motorway The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south-west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth, Staffordshire, Tamworth on the way, ...

, and is adjacent to

Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Bor ...

and

Birmingham International railway station Birmingham International is a railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England, just east of Birmingham. It is on the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line east of Birmingham New Stree ...

. It was opened by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

in 1976.

History

The NEC was originally going to be built adjacent to the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

(junction 21) near

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

but it was turned down by

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Leicester. The county coun ...

with claims that "The big shows won't move away from London". In November 1971, the

Secretary of State for the Environment The secretary of state for the environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). Today, its responsibilities are carried out by the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs and the ...

granted outline planning approval for the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. On 16 February 1973, then Prime Minister

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

travelled up from London to cut a white ribbon and initiate its construction, which was carried out by RM Douglas (know today as

Tilbury Douglas Tilbury Douglas is a British construction business with its head office in London. The company was originally founded in 1884 as the London and Tilbury Lighterage Company Limited, and retained the Tilbury name until 2001. From 1991 it was know ...

), to a design by Edward Mills. The NEC was opened by

on 2 February 1976.

Expansion of the complex

The seventh hall of the NEC complex, a multi-purpose indoor arena named the

Birmingham International Arena bp pulse LIVE is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, England, just outside Birmingham. It has a capacity of 15,685 seats. The venue was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex. After 18 ...

(currently branded BP Pulse Live), opened in December 1980. NEC plaque 11y07

On 23 March 1989, Queen Elizabeth II opened three new halls. Four more halls were added in 1993, and another four new halls, designed by Seymour Harris and built by John Laing, were completed in January 1998. A five-year, £40 million venue improvement programme which saw improvements made to everything from the car parking to signage, seating and catering was carried out between 2006 and 2011.

Exhibitions

The NEC has 20 interconnected halls covering of floor space. Regular exhibitions in the past have included the

British International Motor Show The British International Motor Show was an annual (bi-biennial after 1976) motor show held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) between 1903 and 2008 in England. The show was relaunched in 2021 with a new location at Farnb ...

and the international dog show ''

Crufts Crufts is an international dog show held annually in the United Kingdom, held since 1891, and organised by The Kennel Club. It is the largest show of its kind in the world. Crufts is primarily a championship conformation show for dogs, and ...

''. The NEC has 16,500 parking spaces spread around the site, with a free shuttle bus service operating to and from the car parks.

NEC Group

Parent company the NEC Group also owns and operates the

Arena Birmingham Utilita Arena Birmingham (previously known as Arena Birmingham, The Barclaycard Arena, originally as the National Indoor Arena and still commonly called The NIA) is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central Birmingham, England. It is owne ...

and

ICC Birmingham The International Convention Centre (ICC) is a major conference venue in Birmingham, England. The centre incorporates Symphony Hall and faces Centenary Square, with another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Westside area, whi ...

, both in central Birmingham, and the

Resorts World Arena bp pulse LIVE is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, England, just outside Birmingham. It has a capacity of 15,685 seats. The venue was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex. After 1 ...

, based on The NEC site.

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

placed the NEC Group up for sale in 2014. After short-listing three contenders to purchase the company, the sale to

Lloyds Development Capital Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developmen ...

, the private equity unit of Lloyds Banking Group, was completed in January 2015 for £307 million. In October 2018, Blackstone acquired NEC Group from Lloyds Development Capital, paying around £800 million for the group.

Emergency hospital

From early April 2020 the NEC housed

NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham The NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham was the second of the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospitals set up by NHS England to help to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was constructed inside the National Exhibition Centre, Solihull, and opened ...

, an emergency hospital scheduled to open on 10 April, and receive its first patients on 12 April, as part of a network of

NHS Nightingale Hospitals COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom were COVID-19 hospital, temporary hospitals set up in the United Kingdom and overseas territories as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, COVID-19 pandemic. They principa ...

in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 1 April 2021 the hospital was closed without ever treating a patient.

Gallery

File:NEC hall 3a 11y07.JPG, Preparations for an exhibition in Hall 3a File:NEC inside atrium 11y07.JPG, View from inside the atrium File:NEC atrium roof 10y07.JPG, Atrium roof structure File:NEC atrium gallery 11y07.JPG, The atrium showing an upper level called the ''Gallery'' File:NEC horizontal escalator 11y07.JPG,

Moving walkway A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

File:The NEC Pavilion - geograph.org.uk - 985608.jpg, NEC Pavilion (2008) File:Atrium Entrance 2, National Exhibition Centre - geograph.org.uk - 81173.jpg, NEC Atrium entrance 2 (2005) File:NEC atrium entrance3 10y07.JPG, NEC Atrium entrance 3 (2007) File:NEC shuttle bus 10y07.JPG, An NEC

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...

1 bodied

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, in 1996 the low-floor second generation Denn ...

shuttle bus A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travelling ...

outside atrium entrance 2

References

External links

*
The NEC Birmingham Business event calendar
{{Authority control Indoor arenas in England Exhibition and conference centres in England Buildings and structures completed in 1976 Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull Esports venues in the United Kingdom London Spitfire 2022 Commonwealth Games venues Table tennis at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Weightlifting at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Boxing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Badminton at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Powerlifting at the 2022 Commonwealth Games