Brockholes Revisited

Brockholes

Brockholes Conference Centre is one of a cluster of wooden buildings which sits amongst reedbeds on a lake in a 106 hectare nature reserve. You could be forgiven for thinking you were miles from civilisation but you would be totally wrong. Brockholes Conference Centre is less than one mile off the M6 motorway at junction 31 – the ‘Tickled Trout’ junction in Preston, Lancashire.

I viewed Brockholes last year before it opened. Then it was a building site in a ‘dry-dock’. On completion the lake was flooded and Brockholes became Britain’s first floating conference centre. 

Now Brockholes Conference Centre is one of a  small cluster of wooden buildings that includes a café, restaurant, shop and information centre built around a central courtyard and connected to the ‘mainland’ by a couple of footbridges.

   Brockholes Conference Centre - during construction

Brockholes Conference Centre is a self-contained building with a main room to seat up to 130 delegates theatre style or 60 cabaret style. There are also two syndicate / breakout rooms.  Across the courtyard is the café and restaurant. Over the small footbridge there is plenty of parking.

  Brockholes Conference Centre

The M6 motorway in its entirety has hotels and conference venues at virtually every junction. It is no problem for the conference organiser to find a venue with ‘easy access’ for large and small events. Brockholes scores highly in that category.

In addition at Brockholes, the conference organiser gets a bright and airy main room with skylights and excellent acoustics. It is fully equipped with the latest technology. The room has floor to ceiling glass doors that slide open on to the lake. There is an ‘al fresco’ dining and refreshment area, wi-fi is free and the venue is carbon-neutral.

If you have time you can bird-watch or simply amble around the network of lakes and meadows along the banks of the River Ribble. On a sunny day, which I realise is not an everyday occurrence in this part of central Lancashire, it is fabulous place to be.

Details: www.brockholes.org