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Bicon 2009 - The Venue · updated: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:51:45 GMT

About the Venue

Bicon 2009 will be held at The University of Worcester, which some of you will remember from the fab time we had there in 2005.

The University of Worcester has recently joined Stonewall’s Diversity Champion Programme as part of its continued commitment to equality and dignity for its staff and students. In brief, Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme is Britain’s good practice forum for sexual orientation where employers can work with Stonewall, and each other, to promote diversity in the workplace. Stonewall, as a member of the national Equality and Diversity Forum, is committed to progress on age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief as well as sexual orientation.

The city of Worcester is located approximately 25 miles south west of Birmingham, with the main University campus being situated about 1 mile to the north west of the city centre.

Click here for Some photographs of the venue

Daytime activities

BiCon reception and all meeting rooms are situated within the central administration block. An abundance of green spaces between the buildings on this compact, level site gives the campus a pleasant atmosphere, with accessible pathways and drop-kerbs provided throughout.

Evening events

Evening entertainments will take place in the bar and dance hall of the Students’ Union, approximately 2 minutes walk from both reception & accommodation blocks. In addition to this, we’ll be providing a quiet social space for reading, chatting or playing board games close to BiCon reception. Coffee, tea and soft drinks will also be available here.

Accommodation & Catering

All overnight accommodation is in student residences, located 2-3 minutes walk from meeting rooms & social space. These comprise self contained flats with 6 or 7 bedrooms sharing kitchen & 2 w.c / shower rooms. Bed linen & towels are provided. The kitchen is equipped with fridge/freezer, electric cooker, plus frying pan & 2 saucepans. In addition, a knife, fork, spoon, mug, bowl & 2 plates will be provided for each person. You will need to bring items such as sharp knives, corkscrews, can openers, etc. as these will not be provided by the venue. We can also offer some rooms with en-suite facilities for a small surcharge. Full details on the “Booking a Place” page.

For people with limited mobility, a small number of ground floor and fully wheelchair accessible rooms are available. We have the use of 4 accessible flats. These are situated on the ground floor with automatic entry doors. The communal kitchen has a low sink & cooker with adjacent bays for wheelchairs. These flats contain 6 ordinary ensuite bedrooms & 1 bedroom with attached “wet room” with seated shower area at one end. There’s ample space here to manoeuvre a manual wheelchair & transfer to the shower seat. Please note that electric wheelchair users might find parts of these flats difficult to negotiate.

As usual at BiCon, only self catering facilities are provided as part of the inclusive price. However we have negotiated the use of the “grab & go” servery in the dining hall right next to BiCon reception for ad-hoc purchases of drinks, items from the salad bar, hot & cold snacks, sandwiches and soup. Opening hours will be 10am-4pm daily, with hot food served during the lunchtime period only. Outside these hours, we’ll have access to the well stocked vending machines in the dining hall which will be part of our quiet evening space for socialising.

Further Information

Cash machines are situated:

– in main reception – the machine makes a minimum charge of £1.90

– in the Students’ Union – the machine makes a minimum charge of £1.75
Cash-back is available at a cost of 0.75p at the Campus Shop which is open Mon – Fri, 10.00 till 16.00.


More specific information on the campus is available at the University website: www.worc.ac.uk