Manchester Central has joined the growing list of venues to formally adopt the eGuide, a common regulative policy for major UK exhibition venues created by the Association of Event Venues (AEV).
 
The northwestern venue joins a growing group, including The NEC, Excel, EC&O, Five, YEC and BDC in London, in officially adopting the document as its primary health, safety and operations rulebook.
 
The eGuide provides guidance for achieving common standards of health, safety and operational planning, management and on-site conduct. By moving towards a use of a single set of venue rules across venues in the UK, irrespective of size and location, the AEV hopes eGuide will make it easier for event organisers and their operations teams to implement and comply with regulations.
 
It also creates a simpler landscape for exhibitors, allowing them to exhibit at a series of events at different venues with a single exhibition stand that will consistently comply with regulations and not require expensive, wasteful and time-consuming redesigns to take it from place to place.
 
Manchester Central health and safety event manager Carol MacInnes said: “Manchester Central has been working towards eGuide adoption for some time, and has found its insight into common practices across major UK venues invaluable. Our aim is to provide the best possible experience for our customers, and we see adoption of the eGuide as a major tool to enable us to do this.
 
“The assistance offered by the team at AEV and fellow members of the working group has been amazing and we look forward to contributing to the further developments of the eGuide going forward.”
 
The eGuide covers 50 areas including lifting, rigging, stand construction, working at height, waste and electrics, and the working group meets face-to-face twice a year with continual offline dialogue to ensure that the eGuide is regularly updated and as comprehensive as possible. The working group met on 5 October and the latest edition of the eGuide will be published in November 2011.

Any exhibition-related news? Email exhibitionnews@mashmedia.net