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31
Jan
'We're looking for promotion to the Premier League', says convention centre's Paula Lorimer
Paula Lorimer is excited. If everything goes as planned, work on new facilities at Harrogate Convention Centre (HCC) should start in a matter of weeks, and once completed, she believes they will bring transformative change, both to the centre and by extension the town.
As director of HCC, Ms Lorimer fought for and won £7 million of investment from North Yorkshire Council to pay for the reconfiguration of its Studio 2 to create additional conference breakout space.
The relatively modest investment will see soundproof demountable walls divide the space into up to eight breakout rooms that can accommodate up to 1,200 delegates. This will bring HCC’s breakout capacity to 2,600, one of the largest in the UK.
A "lid-off" architect's CGI of how Studio 2 will be reconfigured.
In an exclusive interview with the Stray Ferret, Ms Lorimer said:
My job is really to keep the town busy, and this project means we'll be able to attract conferences of about 1,200-2,000. At the moment we've got an auditorium for just under 2,000, which is big, but we've only got break-out space for 540, and you're not going to win those big conferences if you haven't got the breakout rooms.
This will give us the same, if not more, conference rooms than our competitors in Manchester and Liverpool. So we're really excited about it, because it means we'll be able to attract larger conferences and bring in more economic impact to the town.
Some designs of the breakout rooms at Harrogate Convention Centre.
The scheme must be particularly pleasing for Ms Lorimer because in the seven years since she took over the running of HCC, her plans to turn its performance around have been stymied by one challenge after another.
The covid pandemic hit shortly after she took charge in 2019, and then came the Local Government Review and the abolition of Harrogate Borough Council – which owned the centre. HCC was passed over to North Yorkshire Council, and any work Ms Lorimer had done to attract investment had to be reworked for her new employer.
'Furious'
The Studio 2 project – as exciting as it may be – was originally just one component of a far grander plan to overhaul the centre. That ran into trouble when costs rose and, crucially, when a £20 million government grant was awarded to a rival convention centre scheme in Gateshead – a decision that Ms Lorimer says left her “furious”.
It left Harrogate’s redevelopment budget seriously lacking at a time when projected costs had soared to £57 million, and North Yorkshire Council finally pulled the plug in March 2024.
Harrogate Convention Centre.
Options being considered
But Studio 2 is not the only major change in the offing at HCC. For years, managers and councillors have wrestling with the pivotal question of just how the centre should be run. Currently, it is council owned and council-run, but it is one of only two convention centres in the country that operate under that model. The other is Brighton, and Ms Lorimer suspects that Brighton’s financial situation is similar to that of Harrogate, which is still propped up by an annual £2.7 million subsidy from the council.
She has long pushed for private sector involvement in the running of HCC. In fact, as long ago as 2014, Harrogate Borough Council commissioned a report into the issue and Ms Lorimer – then deputy CEO at Manchester’s successful convention centre – was asked to provide her views.
She said:
I've made it clear may times that that's what I see as the best option, but it's not my decision, and ultimately, I reckon it will probably go back to the management board at the end of spring / beginning of summer. Then it will go to cabinet, and then to council. We're not in a position to go into detail on that, other than that I'm working very hard with them to agree what the best model is.
But what I think is right for the convention centre isn't necessarily what's right for North Yorkshire Council. They may have other competing priorities. But you can rely on me to make the case.
(She still lives in Manchester, incidentally, and commutes ‘over the hill’ two or three times a week.)
Harrogate Convention Centre's auditorium.
'I did turn down Bonkers Bingo'
In the meantime, she’s hoping that the remodelling of Studio 2 will help the venue attract some big, lucrative events. Some Harrogate residents have lamented what they see as a dearth of big names playing the convention centre, which in the 1980s attracted top bands.
Currently, there are only five acts listed as playing the main auditorium this year: Monty Don, K-Pop All Stars, The Archers Live at 75, Miriam Margolyes, and Harry Enfield.
But Ms Lorimer said:
Entertainment is about 5% of our business model, and there are reasons for that. An entertainment ticket might cost £80, but people who come tend to live nearby, eat before they come out, have maybe one drink here, and then go home.
But a ticket to go to a conference can start at £500 or £600 – that's the difference. The reality is, why would we take an entertainment on a Wednesday night in June, when we could sell a big conference for £400,000 and fill loads of hotel rooms?
It's important to get the balance right, because we want to have some good entertainment for the community, so I do agree there is probably more we can do. But I did turn down Bonkers Bingo – we do draw the line at some things.
Large conferences are the centre's most lucrative revenue stream.
Lucrative medical niche
So the emphasis will remain on conferencing, and Harrogate has carved out a niche in the medical sector, hosting conventions on rheumatology, anaesthesiology, audiology, endocrinology and the like. They all attract well-heeled visitors who – because these conferences often include necessary professional development courses – are highly unlikely to cancel their places.
If Studio 2 helps attract more of the same, and bigger, it should help turbocharge a process of financial rehabilitation that has been many years in the making.
There are signs that the supertanker is already starting to turn. Lettings income is a million pounds better than it was, and even ahead of the Studio 2 transformation, HCC is already attracting some smaller events away from its rivals over the Pennines. The centre has even scopped its first award in recent in recent years, which Ms Lorimer hopes to top with a “big one” next year.
She said:
In 2026-27 we’re going to have our best year ever. Certainly since I’ve been here, and probably since 2010. And the following year is very full as well. It’s about getting that momentum.
HCC won a technical award at Event Tech Live in London.
'Looking to get promotion'
She appears to have no plans to move on just yet – there's still plenty to do to get HCC where she wants it. More hotel rooms would be good, she says – Manchester has 29,000, and Liverpool 16,000, but Harrogate has just 2,100, “and that’s including B&Bs!”.
But she believes the centre is going in the right direction, and the need for the council’s subsidy is diminishing. After years of turmoil and frustrations, she is clear about where she wants to get to.
She said:
We've got a lovely niche – sort of at the top of the Championship, and looking to get promotion to the bottom of the Premier League.
But ultimately, I’d like my legacy to be where the convention centre doesn’t cost the public purse a penny, it’s secure for the future, and the staff at the venue have got a job for however long they want it.
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