The Business Centre was a state-of-the-art space for hosting business events and included a fully-featured lecture theatre seating 150 people, two conference rooms, three syndicate rooms, three training rooms, a general exhibition space, geographic information demonstration area and the Garden Room, with full-height glazing and overlooking the grounds with coffee and catering facilities. There were also the necessary back-of-house areas including a management office and projection rooms and a large store for exhibition materials and another large store for chairs etc.
Business Centre main exhibition hall
The Business Centre opened in 2001 and was built inside the space formerly used by the repro area (Helio/Photographic) , which has become surplus to requirements following computer-to-plate technology that replaced the large area and its number of cameras/darkrooms/whirlers/sinks etc with a single machine. That was moved to the front of the Print Floor along with the remaining small number of darkrooms and small photography equipment (mainly used for aerial photos). The offices supporting that were moved to C041 at the back of the building between E Core and the Upper Loading Bay.
The large space vacated was originally used as a ‘decant’ area to move staff out of offices that were being refurbished in the mid 1990s but once that programme was complete then the ground floor of the WRB building was transformed. The first stage was converting the area between A and B core into a new Reception suite with Map Shop, office for customer services staff, several meeting rooms and a new Security suite by B Core. A new backup computer room (C016) and PABX room (telephone exchange) were built around the same time.
The second stage was the Business Centre itself, behind the new Reception area. This was built to a very high standard and finished in the magenta and dark blue corporate colours, it looked very smart indeed and was often hired by external organisations for events.
Business Centre, facing towards the Garden Room with the main exhibition hall to the left.Business Centre main exhibition hall, facing towards Reception with the GI demonstration area to the left.Business Centre coffee bar, ensuring that staff and guests were well catered for.Business Centre main Exhibition HallBusiness Centre geographic information (GI) demonstration ‘pod’. Business Centre main exhibition hallBusiness Centre main exhibition hallBusiness Centre main exhibition hall and entrance from Reception/waiting area.
Large Conference Room (C043), Business Centre.Large Conference Room (C043), Business Centre.Large Conference Room (C043) Business CentreSmall Conference Room (C027) in the Business Centre.Small Conference Room (C027) in the Business Centre.The famous DGs (Director Generals) corridor, with a photo of every DG, behind the Map Shop.The famous DGs (Director Generals) corridor, with a photo of every DG, behind the Map Shop.Business Centre waiting area behind ReceptionVisitors’ waiting area by the entrance to the Business Centre.Facing towards Reception from the Business Centre waiting area.Business Centre – meeting roomBusiness Centre – meeting roomOne of the Business Centre’s new training rooms (C028-C030).Business Centre training room corridorBusiness Centre facing from the Garden Room towards the main hall.
Behind the scenes
Business Centre fire exit (by C032),C032 Business Centre store, 11 Sep 2011C032 Business Centre furniture storeC032 Business Centre storeC032 Business Centre storeC032 Business Centre storeBusiness Centre office (C045), running a large business events facility was a full-time job!Business Centre projection roomBusiness Centre projection roomBusiness Centre projection roomProjection room behind the Lecture Theatre screen.Projection room behind the Lecture Theatre screen
Last updated on Thursday 23 February 2023 by GaryReggae
