Holywell Park Conference Centre is modern conference facility located on

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

Campus offering 300 m2 of exhibition space and accommodating up to 450 people. It was officially opened in April 2004 by The Duke of Edinburgh.

History

Loughborough University purchased the

National Grid plc National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

technology park on Ashby Road

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

in 2003 for £35.5 million.

Holywell Park

The technology park was renamed Holywell Park and is home to a mix of Loughborough University academic schools and enterprise companies. The park was built on the site of Holywell Hall, an area that was thought to contain a small hermitage, fishponds and moat. The Hall itself is now the location of a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building Holywell Farm.

Conference Centre

The Conference Centre is housed in the

Sir Denis Rooke Sir Denis Eric Rooke (2 April 1924 – 2 September 2008) was an English industrialist and engineer. Early life Denis Eric Rooke was born in New Cross, London, the younger son of Frederick George Rooke, a printer and travelling salesman, and hi ...

Building on Holywell Park, named after the British industrialist and engineer who was the Chancellor of Loughborough University from 1989 to 2003. The venue is operated by the Universities hotel and conference subsidiary busines
Imago Venues

Notable uses

London 2012

Kitting out

The Conference Centre was the official location for the kitting out of

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. 175,000 units of kit across 23 sizes were handed out to 550 athletes with the help of 450 support staff.

Torch Relay

Day 46 of the

2012 Summer Olympics torch relay The 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from 19 May until 27 July, prior to the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The torch bearer selection process was announced on 18 May 2011. As well as touring the United Kingdom the schedule included the t ...

ended at the Conference Centre, with torch bearers including

Richard Whitehead (athlete) Richard Whitehead MBE (born 19 July 1976) is a British athlete. He runs with prosthetic legs, as he has a double through-knee congenital amputation. He set world records for athletes with a double amputation, in both the full and half maratho ...

and

Sophie Hitchon Sophie Hitchon (born 11 July 1991) is a retired British hammer thrower. She is the British record-holder with a throw of 74.54 metres, set when winning the Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, Great Britain's first ever Olympic medal i ...

. Former

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasion ...

Head Coach and Loughborough University graduate

Sir Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lion ...

met the Torch Relay at the Conference Centre.

References

{{Reflist Exhibition and conference centres in England