NEW ON THE AGENDA

GLASGOW – Technology and Innovation Centre, Strathclyde University: opened March 2015. Seating capacity of main tiered auditorium 450. EDINBURGH – The Lennox Suite, EICC: official opening January 2015. Raked theatre 2,000, arena mode 1,400, tiered cabaret 750. EDINBURGH – Devere Urban Village Resort: opened January 2015. Capacity 200. EDINBURGH – Prince Philip Building, Royal College of Surgeons: opens August 2015. 60-200 delegates depending on layout. ABERDEEN – The Chester Hotel: Opened March 2014. Parties 250, conferences 300. ABERDEEN – AECC at Bucksburn, left: due to open 2018. Arena 10,000 seats, 200-bed hotel. raked theatre for 2,000 delegates.

Another new player on the capital’s conference scene is the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Prince Philip Building. A £1.5m revamp of a former Edinburgh University language school building has created three floors of event space, perfect for conferences.

“The Prince Philip Building is a hugely versatile space and sits perfectly between the other venues – the historic grandeur of the Playfair Hall and the glass and chrome modernism of the Quincentenary Conference Centre,” says marketing manager Moira Walker.

The building is accessed from the famous pillared entrance opposite the Festival Theatre and houses the Main Hall, an impressive venue complete with glass ceiling and many original features.

And Aberdeen is hot on the heels of Edinburgh and Glasgow, with proposals approved for a new £333m Exhibition and Conference Centre at Bucksburn.

The centre will replace the existing AECC, which has been Aberdeen’s main conference and events venue since 1985. The new site is proposed to include an energy centre, leisure facilities and a 200-bedroom hotel.