Liberal Democrats hail Spring conference in Liverpool as an enormous success
10 Mar 08
The chairman of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Rennard, has hailed the party's Spring Conference at ACC Liverpool as an enormous success, adding that delegates were 'determined' to return to the city in the future.
The Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference, from 7th to 9th March, was the first political party conference to be held at the new £164million facility. Over 2,000 delegates attended the event, making it the party’s biggest ever Spring Conference. It was also their first with Nick Clegg as leader.
Lord Chris Rennard said: "ACC Liverpool is a superb venue and our experience there was a tremendous one. We really cannot sing the praises of everyone at the venue - and in the city itself - enough.
"Delegates are absolutely determined to come back to ACC Liverpool again. We have been to lots of venues over the years and in very many ways this was the best.
"The welcome from both the people of Liverpool, its hotels and restaurants, as well as staff at the venue, was nothing less than fantastic.
"We are so grateful that so much effort was put in to make our event a success."
The event was predominantly held in the state-of-the art BT Convention Centre element of ACC Liverpool, with some sessions also making use of the neighbouring Echo Arena.
ACC Liverpool, on the city's famous King's Waterfront, opened on January 12 to herald the start of the city's Capital of Culture celebrations and is one of the most environmentally-friendly venues of its kind in Europe. It features its own wind farm, rainwater harvesting on the roof and a design which will produce half the CO 2 emissions of a traditional building.
Jacquie Rogers, BT Convention Centre General Manager, said: "This has been a magnificent start for us and we are hoping to welcome very many more political party conferences in future. The venue is ideal for them because of its sheer size and flexibility, but also, clients are discovering that the 'Liverpool welcome' – from both staff and people in the city – really is unrivalled."
The BT Convention Centre will open in full in April, and features 1,350 seats, a 3725 sq metre multi-purpose hall 18 meeting rooms and total exhibition space is in excess of 7000 sq metres.
The 'campus style' layout makes ACC Liverpool an exceptionally good venue for high security events. The adjoining Liverpool Echo Arena has 10,600 seats for entertainment and sporting events.
ACC Liverpool's partners are Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Vision, English Partnerships, the European Objective One programme and the North West Regional Development Agency.
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