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- International Construction Information Society...
The International Construction Information Society (ICIS) is made up of organisations that provide technical services to hundreds of thousands of construction professionals through national master specification systems, cost information or building product information for the construction/ built environment industry.
A membership association, ICIS members are neutral (non-political), technical authorities and provide foundational services and high-quality data to improve the global construction industry. Individual companies are representative of a single nation such as UK, USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
The purpose of the group is to share ideas, debate issues, discuss new technologies and promote best-practice around the world, including the trend towards international collaboration and harmonisation and the need to connect all kinds of digital project information.
This year, NBS was the host organisation for the International Delegates’ Assembly, where representatives of all the member organisations gathered for their annual conference in NewcastleGateshead.
Questions answered by: Jane Hand, Event Organiser at NBS
What social programme was in place for delegates?
Guests arrived on Saturday evening and left the following Thursday, some of whom extended their stay in the UK to take in London, Edinburgh and the Lakes. During their time in the North East daytime outings were planned at Alnwick Castle & Gardens, where dinner was also served in the spectacular Treehouse. This was a huge success with delegates also enjoying a Harry Potter experience, jumping around on Broomsticks. Also on offer was golf at Linden Hall, tours of Beamish Museum and the Sunderland Glass Centre as well as walks into Tynemouth and an official city tour.
Breath-taking city views were also enjoyed with exquisite dining within SIX at BALTIC, but perhaps the biggest hit with delegates was Fenwick Food Hall Experience. Delegates were treated to oyster-shucking, wine & cheese pairing and a Gin cocktail masterclass before sitting down to a delicious feast of the most stunning tapas and anti-pasti platters.
Why NewcastleGateshead?
NBS is based in Newcastle so members were brought to our home City.
How did NBS benefit from bringing the event to NewcastleGateshead?
A lot of NBS events are organised in London or Manchester, so I was thrilled to have something to organise here within the North East! I am so fiercely proud and passionate about the region, the only difficulty was trying to narrow down the options of what to do. I really wanted to showcase / create a snapshot of the old and the new of the region, to pay homage to our ancestors and respect the historical significance of the region but also celebrate what we are about, here and now, and how diverse the region is. I think we managed to achieve this.
How did NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau support in the organisation of your event?
Caroline and the team at NGI were brilliant at helping shape the programme, listening to the brief and coming up with great ideas and suggestions to achieve our goals. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as the parameters changed over time but we got there in the end and the team were excellent.
Did you come across any difficulties/hurdles when organising the event and how did you overcome these?
To begin with we had hoped to host dinner within the Castle Keep, which would have been fabulous, unfortunately a combination of logistics around delegate arrival times and suitability of the space for the size of our group meant we had to abandon that idea in favour of a stay in Alnwick with an early evening ‘supper’ within the Treehouse. Putting ourselves into the delegates shoes and factoring in their schedules on either side of the trip, helped us to tailor the trip to meet their needs.
