A silver award for ‘Going Green’ helped Torquay’s Riviera International Conference Centre attract a major conference……..and it should help pull in many more.

That’s the message from the Market and Coastal Towns Association which decided to stage its two day event at the Riviera Centre because the award for its ‘green’ efforts confirmed it is leading the region in terms of best environmental practice for conference venues.

The association explained that an important criteria about the choice of the venue for its conference was that it should be ‘in tune’ with its thinking and approach as the conference itself was intended to be as ‘green’ as possible by reducing the environmental impacts.

Communications manager Helen Lloyd explained: “The Riviera International Conference Centre delivered everything we could wish for …an accessible and central location, an impressive array of purpose built facilities, superb car parking facilities, top quality catering and a highly professional and dedicated team of staff to guide us through the journey of making our event a real success.”
Miss Lloyd said the association had received positive feedback that the choice of the Riviera Centre had significantly contributed to the success of the conference and therefore it would have no hesitation in recommending the venue to other conference organisers.

Ninety per cent of the delegates had rated the venue as either very good or excellent and 88 per cent rated the staff as either very good or excellent.

It was in July of last year that the Centre became the first conference and leisure venue in Britain to gain the Silver status in the national Green Tourism Award that encourages companies across the country to change for the good.

The Market and Coastal Towns Association conference attracted over 200 delegates for the event which brought together communities from over 70 market and coastal towns across the south west. The theme of the conference was ‘Delivering Change – From plans to Projects’ and the event helped communities turn their vision for the future of their towns into sustainable activities and projects.

The Riviera Centre’s managing director Barry Cole added: “We were delighted to gain a Silver award for our Green efforts last year and we are equally as delighted that organisations such as the Market and Coastal Towns Association have started to recognise our efforts and support us by choosing our centre over and above other venues.

“Companies have started to take their corporate and environmental responsibilities very seriously when booking conferences with the image of their own ‘carbon footprint’ casting a shadow over all their consciences. We can now respond positively to conference buyers and organisers about our own commitment and this recommendation from the MCTA will help us enormously.”