NFU to build £1.8m conference suite

The NFU is to expand its headquarters by building a £1.8m conference centre at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.

Contractors are due to start work next month. The conference suite should be completed around the end of the year. NFU leaders believe the cost will be recouped within five years from savings made on restructuring the union in 2010.

Last year saw the union move the operation of its call centre – NFU CallFirst – and publications department to Stoneleigh.

Finance director Ken Sutherland said: “Our main building was redesigned, which meant the existing meeting rooms and restaurant needed to be relocated.”

The new building would give the NFU the flexibility to host membership meetings of all sizes and provide expanded catering facilities.

The new conference suite will be a single-storey, steel-framed building, faced with glass and natural red sandstone. It will also feature external timber decking overlooking an existing ornamental fishpond. The roof will contain an array of solar panels