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About Us - The History of The Derby Conference Centre |
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The main building on the site was built towards the end of the art deco period in the middle of the 1930’s and was officially opened on Friday 22nd July 1938 by Mr Leslie Burgin, the Minister of Transport. It was constructed at a cost of £50,000 by the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company (LMS) to house their school of transport. It was the first institution to be erected by a British Railway company. Derby was chosen for the site as it was central to the LMS network and provided easy access to the railway infrastructure for practical training. It was said at the time that its primary purpose was “to blend the wisdom of the veteran with the enthusiasm and adaptability of the recruit and therefore raise the standards of railwayman craftsmanship”
All the students and tutors needs could be catered for here with classrooms, a lecture theatre, bars, lounges, libraries, bedrooms, kitchen and dining room.
During The Second World War the building became the railway training college for the Royal Engineers and was used in conjunction with the local Melbourne Military Railway. It was subsequently, after the war, put to use to rehabilitate railway workers who had been involved in military action.
In the 1950’s a diesel traction demonstration building was added onto the site and a range of mechanical and electrical engineering courses were introduced.
In 1976 the school was retitled to become The Railway Engineering School when the central training school for signalling and telecommunications was set up. This introduced foundation electronics and signalling system courses.
In 1980 a new purpose built teaching block Astel House was opened on the site to house the additional signalling and telecommunication equipment and the residential accommodation on the site was doubled through the addition of India House bedroom block.
In 1984 the aging diesel traction demonstration building was demolished and replaced with a four room teaching block then named Pagoda. This building has since been renamed, The Chapman Building, in 2007 in memory of the founder of the ATA Group, the parent company of The Derby Conference Centre, who died in January 2006.
In 1991 a new, prestigious, specialist conferencing suite was built and opened on the site, which was provided for by the Quality and Safety Services Department of British Rail for their own use. This was opened by Brian Burdsall, the Director of Quality through people, and subsequently named Burdsall Building.
In 1994 the Civil Engineering Training Centre (CETC) transferred from Watford to Derby, Quality and Services were transferred to various places around the country and the CETC established themselves in the Burdsall Building.
Also in 1994 the Railway Engineering School, Derby Signalling and Telecommunications Training Centres at Clapham, Crewe, Edinburgh, Ilford, Reading and York amalgamated to form the new corporate organisation called The College of Railway Technology.
In 1995 The College of Railway Technology was vested as a limited company in preparation for transference into the private sector in early 1996 anticipating the privatisation of British Rail.
In 1996 the College became a privately owned company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Advicepart, which itself was a holding company formed by the management buyout team.
In 1998 the land that the college was on was sold to an Arab Investment company and the college was transferred to Rail Investments Limited and in November 1998 the company was relaunched under the name of Catalis Rail Training Ltd providing rail training and conferencing services on site.
In 2000 Catalis were acquired by their present owners the AIM listed ATA Group.
In 2004 Arab Investments applied for planning permission to demolish all the buildings on the present site for housing and light industrial redevelopment. This prompted an application to English Heritage from the Railway and Canal Historical Society and Derbyshire Railway Engineers Society for the building to be granted as listed status.
The application stated that “The former LMS Railway School is one of the most prestigious buildings remaining in Derby. Destruction of any part of this most impressive building would be a savage desecration of one of Derby’s most historically important 20th century purpose built college buildings”. The application was fast tracked and the building was awarded Grade II Listed status in December 2005.
Following these 12 months of negotiation that took place between the management of Catalis and Arab Investments to understand the future intent of both parties. It concluded with agreement that Catalis would be able to run the term of the lease until 2020.
The decision was taken to split the training activities and the conferencing activities into two separate Companies and in January 2007 The Derby Conference Centre was formed, which subsequently issued a license to Catalis Rail Training to continue occupation of Astel House of the purpose of delivery of rail training.
A full refurbishment of the main building was then planned in an attempt to redecorate and furnish the interior of the building back to complement the Art Deco features. The bedrooms that once housed the rail students were opened for commercial bed and breakfast in April 2007. A civil wedding license was granted in May 2007 and the full opening ceremony took place in June 2007.
The products on offer are bed and breakfast, an entertaining program of specialist events, private hire for individual or corporate use and conferencing or weddings.
Catalis Training continues to be the market leader in rail training providing, signalling, traction and rolling stock, operational and rail safety training to a wide portfolio of national and internal clients and in 2006 they started to diversify into Health and Safety training. |
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