Bournemouth International Centre

The Bournemouth International Centre (commonly known as the BIC /ˈbɪk/) in Bournemouth, Dorset, was opened in September 1984. It is one of the largest venues for conferences, exhibitions, entertainment and events in southern England. Additionally, it is well known for hosting national conferences of major British political parties and trade unions.

Bournemouth International Centre
Exterior of venue (c.2018)
AddressExeter Rd
Bournemouth BH2 5BH England
Coordinates50°43′00″N 1°52′41″W
OwnerBournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council
OperatorBH Live
Built1982–84
Inaugurated16 August 1984
Opened6 September 1984 (1984-09-06)[1]
Renovated2004
Expanded1990
Construction cost
£19.5 million
(£73.2 million in 2023 pounds[2])
Classroom-style seating
10–50
Banquet/ballroom2,500 (Purbeck Hall)
1,300 (Solent Hall)
Theatre seating
4,045 (Windsor Hall)
1,100 (Tregonwell Hall)
Enclosed space
 • Total space6,982 m2 (75,150 sq ft)
 • Exhibit hall floor1,973 m2 (21,240 sq ft)
 • Breakout/meeting1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft)
 • Ballroom2,748 m2 (29,580 sq ft)
Parking650 spaces
Website
Venue Website

In June 2022, it was announced that the building would undergo a £1.8 million refurbishment.[3]

Conferences

The BIC has hosted national conferences of political parties and trade unions. Neil Kinnock attacked the militant tendency at the Labour Party Conference there in 1985, and Margaret Thatcher made her last Conservative Party Conference speech at the venue in 1990.[4]

In recent years, both Labour and the Conservatives have held their conferences at larger venues in urban centres, such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, but the BIC has continued to host the Liberal Democrat Conference.[5]

Venues
The BIC's location on the seafront
Purbeck Hall in August 2018

At opening, it comprised two halls, the Windsor Hall and the Tregonwell Hall as well as a leisure swimming pool which has since been closed to provide further conference and exhibition space.

The venue's Windsor Hall has a concert capacity of nearly 4,100 and is one of the bigger indoor music venues in the UK, often included on the arena tours of major artists. This hall has the largest tensile grid in Europe – a tensioned mesh comprising 30 miles of steel wire hung above the stage which can suspend approximately 90 tonnes of weight.[6]

In 1990, the circular Purbeck Hall was added at a cost of £6 million.[6]

The Solent Hall can house exhibitions or hold up to 2,000 people for standing music concerts. As part of a refurbishment costing £22 million, this hall controversially replaced the popular swimming pool and wave machine in 2004 after an unsuccessful campaign to save the facility.[6][7]

Managed by social enterprise BH Live in partnership with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, the BIC is operated alongside its sister venue, The Pavilion Theatre and Ballroom.

See also

References
  1. Adido. "About The BIC · BH Live". www.bic.co.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  2. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. "BIC to get £1.8m upgrade (and here's what's planned)". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  4. "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES | Bournemouth West". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  5. "Bournemouth will host the Lib Dem conference today - with party poised to back revoking Article 50". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  6. "Bournemouth venue marks 25 years". 9 September 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  7. "Letter to the Editor: Council should never have closed BIC swimming pool". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 27 January 2020.

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