The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (QEIICC) will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary in June 2006.

The Centre, situated in the heart of Westminster and against the stunning backdrop of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, The BA London Eye and Westminster Abbey, was opened on 24^th June 1986 by Her Majesty The Queen.

Originally intended for use as a venue for Government conferences, it was also opened up to conferences and events in the private sector shortly after.

The QEIICC was the venue for some 415 events last year and is well renowned for its facilities, which include four main auditoria, seven conference rooms and over 20 smaller meeting rooms across seven floors, catering for events from 40 to 1,000 delegates in plenary session and 3,000 in total capacity.

The Centre also benefits from some of the most innovative technological facilities for conferences and events and a wide range of cuisine for clients from in-house caterers Leith’s.

The QEIICC has recently hosted high profile events such as the announcement for the route of the Grand Depart for the Tour de France 2007, EBLEX ‘Live in London’ and the World Maritime Technology Conference 2006.

In keeping with the high standard of facilities provided at the Centre, it closed to undergo important refurbishment work throughout August 2005 and will continue with smaller scale refurbishment until October 2006, ensuring that clients are provided with pleasant state of the art surroundings and leading technical capabilities.

As it moves into its 20^th year, the Centre is as sucessful as ever and saw a record turnover of £10.2m in the financial year 2004/05, which was an increase of more than 10 percent on the previous year. It also represented the second consecutive year of growth, with a 30 percent increase on 2002-03.

All performance targets were exceeded and the Centre paid an increased dividend to the Government for the second consecutive year.

Ernest Vincent, chief executive at The QEIICC comments “It is great to be celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the opening of The QEIICC. The Centre continues to be at the forefront all of the conference and meeting requirements it did when it first opened and it remains as popular as ever as a conferencing and event venue. The challenge that we have faced over the past twenty years, which we have met, is to reinvest the right amount of capital in the right things at the right time. It is something we will maintain in the future and in doing so will continue provide clients with the high standard of facilities the Centre is renowned for.”