The Business Design Centre, often shortened to the BDC, is one of London’s best known exhibition and conference venues. It sits in the heart of Islington, in a striking Victorian building with a long history. If you’ve booked space here, or you’re weighing it up, this guide covers the practical things worth knowing before you plan your stand.
The basics about the venue
The building started life in 1862 as the Royal Agricultural Hall, hosting large scale exhibitions and events. After decades of decline it was rescued from demolition and reopened in 1986 as the Business Design Centre. Today it’s a Grade II listed building, and it keeps the character of its origins, with original ironwork, a grand arched roof, a mezzanine and plenty of natural light.
It offers around 6,000 square metres of fully carpeted exhibition space, along with conference and meeting rooms that flex from small gatherings up to conferences of 2,000 or more. The venue hosts well over 80 exhibitions and 250 conferences a year, drawing in excess of half a million visitors. Well known events like the London Art Fair and New Designers call it home.
It’s also worth knowing that the BDC was the UK’s first carbon neutral venue, certified since 2009. If sustainability matters to your brand or your audience, that’s a point worth being aware of and even mentioning in your own messaging.
The building runs across several levels
Here’s the most important practical point about the BDC. Unlike a single flat exhibition hall, the venue spreads its exhibition space across different levels, including the ground floor, the Gallery Hall and the upper mezzanine.
For an exhibitor, that affects how your stand and materials reach your space, and it affects where you sit in the flow of visitors. A spot on the ground floor sees different traffic to one up on the mezzanine. It’s all workable, but it needs planning. When we build at the BDC, we plan the route and the logistics around exactly where your space sits, so getting the stand in isn’t your problem.
One useful detail. The Gallery Hall has direct loading facilities with vehicle access, which makes getting materials in more straightforward for stands in that space. Access varies by area, so it’s worth knowing what your specific space allows.
Getting there
The BDC’s location is a real strength. It’s in central London, a few minutes’ walk from Angel tube station on the Northern line, and around ten minutes from King’s Cross St Pancras, which connects to the rest of the country and to Europe. Highbury and Islington station is close by too.
For visitors, that central position makes the venue easy to reach and easy to build a day around, with plenty of Islington’s restaurants and bars nearby. There’s on site car parking and an adjacent hotel, though as with any central London venue, public transport is usually the simpler option for most people.
Planning your stand for the BDC
The BDC has a certain style. The Victorian ironwork, the natural light and the sense of space give it more character than a modern box venue. A stand that plays to that setting looks right at home.
Clean design works well here. Good lighting matters, because you want your stand to hold its own within a characterful building rather than disappear into it. And clear branding that reads from a distance is as important here as anywhere. The venue may be handsome, but visitors still make quick decisions about which stands to approach.
Shell scheme or space only?
Depending on the event, you’ll usually be offered a shell scheme or space only.
A shell scheme gives you basic walls, a name board and often some lighting. It’s the cheaper, simpler option and a fair starting point, though a plain shell scheme can look flat against a building with this much character.
Space only gives you bare floor and full control over your design, which lets you create something that works with the setting. If you’ve got a shell scheme booked and want it to look sharper, that’s easily sorted. Proper graphics and lighting turn a standard booth into something that looks deliberate and professional.
How Exhibition Stand Hire handles the BDC for you
We design, build, transport, install and remove stands at the Business Design Centre and across London. The multi level layout and central location mean planning matters, and that’s exactly what we take care of. You get a stand designed for your specific space, delivered and installed, without you having to work out how to get it up to the mezzanine or into the Gallery Hall.
The process is simple. You tell us the show, your stand size and your goals. We design the stand and show you a 3D visual before anything is built. You approve it, we handle the rest, and you arrive to a finished stand.
Exhibiting at the Business Design Centre?
If you’ve got an event coming up at the BDC, we can help you make the most of one of London’s most characterful venues. Send us your dates and floor space, and we’ll come back with ideas, a 3D visual and a clear quote, so you can see exactly how your stand will look within that Victorian setting.
