Burleigh Court Conference Centre & Hotel by Imago Venues

Imago Venues strikes gold with new excellence accreditation

Burleigh Court Conference Centre and Hotel and Holywell Park, part of Imago Venues, has secured the illustrious MIA Gold accreditation from the Meetings Industry Association (MIA).

The conference, hotel and event venues based in Loughborough achieved the highest possible level of accreditation from the sector’s nationally recognised standard for service providers in business, meetings and events, after a panel of independent industry assessors scrutinised it against a robust checklist of criteria.

The process includes legal compliance, accessibility and quality checks of facilities as well as the customer service proposition and experience, ethical codes of conduct and best practice standards. To achieve the MIA Gold standard, operators must meet an even stricter list of criteria and show excellence throughout the entire customer journey and business process supporting it.

Imago was commended for it’s excellent venues supported by management that are committed to providing a venue and services that reflect this excellence through innovation and investment throughout the venue.

Lioness Legends launch new look Burleigh Court

England Lionesses Karen Carney OBE and Jill Scott MBE got the celebrations underway at the official relaunch of the newly refurbished Burleigh Court.

Loughborough University's event venue brand, Imago Venues, recently undertook a major £4.5m refurbishment of their flagship 4-star Burleigh Court Hotel and Conference Centre and celebrated the official relaunch with a distinguished lineup of guests, including University alumnae and former England Lioness legendary footballers, Karen Carney OBE and Jill Scott MBE.

The evening brought together contractors, suppliers, clients, partners, event agents and key University stakeholders in an evening of celebration to mark the completion of the refurbishment which elevates the venue to one of the East Midlands' leading event spaces.

The works have seen the addition of new meeting facilities including a brand-new conferencing space with 280 capacity (cabaret) which increases the total number of meeting and event spaces to 26. 

It also sees the addition of a brand new restaurant called Fifty The Street which showcases Imago's sustainability commitment by offering a 50% plant-forward menu that celebrates plants over animal protein. The menus are made from apple skins in a pioneering new manufacturing process that turns the skins into a leather-like material and also uses recovered plastic waste from the ocean. The construction also uses reclaimed burnt larch wood and old scaffolding boards, as well as carpets made from recycled plastic bottles.

The new bar has been named Carney & Scott's after Karen Carney and Jill Scott who were both present to conduct interviews and officially open the new stylish bar area. Both former Lioness footballers are alumni of the university and trained at the university's world-leading sports facilities before going on to represent their country at the highest level. Karen Carney has also recently been appointed by the university as one of their strategic ambassadors for women's sport.

The evening was also a fundraising event for Imago Venues' nominated charity partner, Rainbows Hospice who raised over £3,500 through the sales of raffle tickets, donations, and the purchase of "bow bears". Rainbows is the only children's hospice in the East Midlands caring for the families of terminally ill children with life-limiting diseases. Imago partnered with the charity at the unanimous decision of their entire team and has pledged to raise a minimum of £100,000 over five years.