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Mike Fletcher sits down with Paul Michael , the MD of Coventry Building Society Arena to hear how the venue has flourished since coming under new ownership and what lies ahead
Paul Michael , managing director of Coventry Building Society ( CBS ) Arena is in a reflective mood . It ’ s been over a year since Frasers Group bought the Midlands-based venue . The new owner first helped instil a period of stabilisation before investing £ 4m in improvements and is now firmly behind a fiveyear sustainable growth plan , which includes the launch of a new live events proposition , CBS Live . “ To steady the ship we had to make sure that relationships with our key |
“ By 2025 , we ’ re committed to ensuring over half of our supply chain will be local businesses .”
partners and staff were retained and strengthened ,” Michael says . “ That included our naming rights partner Coventry Building Society , as well as Coventry City Football Club , Coventry City Council , Hilton Hotels and all our commercial tenants . Despite experiencing the lows of administration , we haven ’ t lost a single member of staff . I ’ m exceptionally proud that we ’ ve managed to retain all of our expertise and they are now thriving to the next level .” Fraser Group ’ s purchase of CBS Arena allowed Michael and his team to place every part of the business under the microscope and to identify where improvements were needed . “ Some of those changes have been short-term , while others , such as the full refurbishment of our onsite Doubletree by Hilton hotel , are built into our longerterm
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growth strategy ,” he continues . “ We ’ re passionate that sustainability , for example , should be seen and demonstrated across all areas of our business and this has provided us with a real opportunity to do that . “ We ’ ve even created a department and a team to lead on this . We ’ ve formed partnerships with Skoot , Trace by Ilsa , and Go Green , plus we ’ ve introduced recyclable packaging for catering and installed LED lighting throughout . By |
2025 , we ’ re committed to ensuring over half of our supply chain will be local businesses .” CBS Arena is working with organisers to create carbon-conscious meetings and conferences and has introduced a ‘ green ’ day delegate rate to help . This allows event organisers to have an immediate positive impact on the environment , with the green rate meaning that for every attendee a tree is planted and two pieces of plastic are removed from the ocean , for just 50p per delegate . During the pandemic years , an investment of £ 7.5m saw the creation of a convention centre with three halls , the largest of which can seat 1,000 delegates theatre-style with adjacent break-out rooms . Over the past year , improvements have been carried out to other parts |
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Spring — 27 |