Media Invitation from the Yorkshire Agricultural Society
Time & Date: 11.30am, Thursday 9 June 2016
Venue: Hall 1, Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate HG2 8NZ
Subject: Official Opening of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s £11.5m new events hall
Contact: Judy Thompson, PR Manager, Yorkshire Agricultural Society – judyt@yas.co.uk or 07903 326170
Notes for Photographers and Reporters
- Society staff, including Bishop Nick Baines and Heather Parry will be available for interview
- Scissor lifts will be inside and outside the hall which can be used to gain aerial-type shots. Please note a harness must be worn.
The official opening of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s £11.5m exhibition hall takes place at 12noon on Thursday 9 June and will be carried out by the Right Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds. In front of invited guests, Bishop Nick will unveil the building by pulling a 30m giant red ribbon, then inside a five-tier Yorkshire pork pie cake made by Chime and Hock of Barnsley, will be cut. To help mark the occasion there will be musical accompaniment from Aurous, a Leeds College of Music Saxophone Quartet.
The hall, which is the size of 3.5 Olympic swimming pools, has a 36m glass front elevation, flanked by an 8m high Yorkshire stone wall and an 8m high copper wall. Inside, the hall will have “live room sets” to depict the versatility of the venue – including for a 400 seat conference, dinner set up for 400 and an exhibition set, plus a sporting area with table tennis, football, snooker and dodgems. There are a number of trade shows in the Hall in June and the first public event will be the Great Yorkshire Show, (Tuesday 12 - Thursday 14 July when it will be transformed into a food emporium.
Hall 1 replaces the original 1960s building which had come to the end of its natural life. As well as the main exhibition space, it includes a café, large foyer, seminar/workshop space and offices.
The project is the largest in the Society’s recent history and has been masterminded by the Society’s Deputy Chief Executive, Heather Parry. Builders are Clugston Construction and architects are P+HS of Stokesley and Leeds.
Hall 1 Fast Facts:
It is the largest project the Society has undertaken in its history (it was formed in 1837)
Hall 1 provides 4,320m2 of single span, versatile space
It is the largest single events space in Yorkshire and the North East
It features:
- 465 glass panels
- 2,059 litres of paint
- 43,000 metres of cable
- 953 lights
- 960 solar panels which will annually generate the equivalent of 47 homes’ yearly consumption (based on 4,115kwh average annual UK household useage, stats from the World Energy Council)
- The steelwork in the frame is more than double the weight of the famous Angel of the North sculpture at Gateshead
- The exterior copper cladding would cover 56 table tennis tables
- The dry stone walling would cover 2 tennis courts
- The roof is equal to 27 tennis courts
Judy Thompson, PR Manager, Yorkshire Agricultural Society – judyt@yas.co.uk or 07903 326170
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