Well Met Conferencing is celebrating today after receiving the prestigious GOLD Accredited in Meetings (AIM) certification from the Meetings Industry Association (MIA).

Leeds Metropolitan University has become the first in the UK to achieve the Gold award and it puts Leeds on a par with London in boasting three venues with Gold AIM status.

The coveted award comes following a rigorous assessment on all aspects of Well Met’s services and facilities and is a great testimony to the level of customer service, quality offerings and the variety and uniqueness of the venues.

Kate Pitcher, Business Development Manager for Well Met Conferencing, said:
“Today’s announcement highlights our commitment to providing excellent customer service in venues that stand out from the crowd. We are dedicated to pulling out all the stops for our clients to ensure they have an event to remember. Flexibility is key and this, combined with a superb conference and events team, state-of-the art facilities and top notch venues, makes us one of the leading conference destinations in the UK. And now we have the award to prove it.”

Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire Gary Verity said:
“We are very proud of our venues in Yorkshire and their success is frequently down to the dedication of the people that are behind them. To achieve the Gold accreditation is a fantastic achievement and I congratulate Well Met on their determination to deliver excellent quality and service to make them an award-winning venue.”

Nicola Lockwood, Manager of Conference Leeds commented:
“To have three venues in the city with Gold accreditation is an excellent selling point when attracting conference buyers to the city. Organisers can be guaranteed quality venues, first-rate service and a warm welcome. Well Met has a really unique product – a number of city centre venues as well as parkland spaces on the Headingley campus, all of which offer something different for every type of event organiser.”

Jane Longhurst, MIA Chief Executive, said: “AIM at Gold level is the highest achievable, and demonstrates that a venue is consistently delivering the highest standards of compliance, quality and value across all its meetings services and facilities. AIM Gold offers credible reassurances to event organisers as it cannot be achieved without the entire venue team working painstakingly hard on every occasion to exceed clients’ expectations and for this reason all at Well Met Conferencing should be incredibly proud of themselves. Like all that achieve AIM Gold they are an inspiration to the entire meetings industry and we congratulate them.”

Well Met Conferencing joins other Leeds venues, the Royal Armouries International and Weetwood Hall Hotel on the Gold accreditation, highlighting how the city is firmly on the map as a quality business tourism destination.

MESSAGE ENDS

Further Information

For further media information please contact Victoria Sowerby, Bonner & Hindley Communications on 0113 243 4713 or email victoria@bandhcommunications.co.uk

For further details about Leeds Met’s Conferencing facilities please contact the conference and events team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 8555 or email conferences@leedsmet.ac.uk.

Notes to editors:
Leeds Met Offers
•3 brand new signature buildings representing £177 m investment
•Dedicated meeting rooms
•17 lecture theatres, maximum capacity 256
•City centre or parkland setting
•Complimentary Wifi
•High quality catering
•Professional crew and event staff
•Summer school accommodation competitively prices
•Clients include; NHS, Leeds City Council, Royal Bank of Scotland, Leeds Building Society, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Ladbrokes, Marks & Spencer and Yorkshire Water.
•Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and over 300,000 associate students through its partnerships with 24 colleges.
•The University’s new iconic Rose Bowl building was awarded Best Commercial Property Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards.
•The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*.
•The University scored highly in the Times Higher’s Student Experience and was ranked 2nd in the category ‘Good library and library opening hours’.
•Leeds Metropolitan University won the ‘Coaching Environment of the Year’ award at the sports coach uk 2008 UK Coaching Awards and was announced as the home of the UK Centre for Coaching Excellence.
•The University is home to The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence.
•Leeds Met Carnegie is the primary partner of rugby league’s Carnegie Challenge Cup.