20 years of incredible exhibitions, conferences and meetings
When Coventry Building Society Arena opened its doors in 2005, it set out to be the region’s leading destination for sport, music and – crucially - business.
The early designs for the venue, known as Arena 2000, focused on creating a world-class stadium for sports. However, after the original plans fell through, the second iteration focused on the creation of a multi-purpose venue.
The new plans created a venue that would be open and thriving 365 days a year, with the complex including 20,000 sqm of flexible event space, a 121-bedroom hotel and a large casino too.
It is a concept that is being embraced in stadia across the globe now, but Coventry Building Society Arena was a trailblazer and one of the first true venues designed specifically for sport, entertainment and business in the UK.
From the day it opened in August 2005, this was a venue that could see thousands of football fans through the turnstiles on the weekend, but welcome thousands more visitors throughout the week for conferences, exhibitions and meetings.
The venue still runs a packed events calendar 12 months a year and is established as one of the country’s most versatile and successful business event venues – hosting everything from small meetings and team building events to 5,000 delegate conferences and 10,000 visitor exhibitions.
It is a continued growth area for the business with more than £8.9 million of sales completed in 2024/2025 and hosting 451 events from April 2024 to April 2025.
A busy calendar
Coventry Building Society Arena continues to attract a wide range of events from different sectors, with a few events having been hosted at the venue every year since 2005.
The venue hosts events that are open to the public, but also exclusive events behind closed doors for businesses and organisations that require private spaces.
Recent highlights on the programme have included Radar Comms’ Offsite Expo, a series of events with Boots, the Childcare & Education Expo, the MFG Forecourt Show, Engineering Design Show from MA Exhibitions, Herbalife and RS Connect and the upcoming National Painting & Decorating Show in November.
The new year brings another full programme, kicking off with Spatex, before the return of events including Merchandise World, SPATEX, the Executive Hire Show, Kidz to Adultz Middle, BAPCO, Bestway Retail Showcase and Traffex/Parkex.
Long term partnerships and growing events
Over the past 20 years, the venue has acted as an incubator for events, building long-term partnerships and supporting continued growth. This has led to exhibition organisers bringing multiple events from their portfolio to the venue.
Western Business Media has hosted more than 25 events at the venue since 2021, with the venue now hosting six major conferences, exhibitions and award ceremonies organised by the business. This includes recent additions such as Security Matters Live, Health and Safety Matters Live and the Industrial Maintenance Solutions Summit.
STEP Exhibitions also hosts four annual events at the venue including Surfex, SCS Formulate, Design in Mental Health and Making Pharmaceuticals – with the events growing to be national sector-leading events.
The Arena continues to invest after two decades to help facilitate the continued growth of events, and this has been achieved by opening additional spaces across the venue to facilitate the development of events.
Diverse spaces supporting growth and experiences
The team at the Arena has always been flexible with its spaces to support the delivery of events, and it may come as a surprise to many that the concourse often used for half-time football refreshments also doubles up as an expanded area for large-scale conferences and events.
This is the same for hospitality areas throughout the venue, for example a major health and beauty retailer requires hospitality areas and lounges to be opened up to create one continuous space for delegates.
A major beauty show once filled every single room in the building, with the Arena tailoring its layout for the event to move more than 3,000 visitors through carefully zoned areas with bespoke signage and catering points throughout.
More recently, it hosted a multi-layered conference, in partnership with Strive Events Agency, for a national multiservice provider in September.
The event welcomed 3,500 delegates and it was the first time the stadium incorporated its concourse for a conference event, with other areas of the venue converted to relaxation areas and the main conference being held in the Exhibition Halls
It is this flexibility that has seen the venue continue to go from strength-to-strength in conference, exhibition and meetings sector, becoming a leading national partner for event planners.
Continuing to invest
Since first opening, the venue’s conference and exhibition spaces have seen a continual investment and some areas would be unrecognisable from opening day.
The latest edition is The Curve, a brand-new 1,000 sqm multifunctional space for medium scale conferences in an area of the venue that has a diverse history as office space and even a gym.
The biggest change has been the transformation of the lower halls at the venue, which at one time were earmarked for a super-casino. The spaces were initially turned into exhibition space, which sits below the venue, but in 2022 a multi-million-pound investment turned the area into a state-of-the-art Convention Centre.
It is the single biggest investment in the exhibition and conference facilities since 2005 and saw the creation of the south pavilion entrance to the venue, with the modernisations connecting the space to the rest of the venue to open up new opportunities for events.
After 20 years, Coventry Building Society Arena continues to be a hub for business events, attracting national and international visitors, and facilitating the continued growth of events with its partners.
