Catherine and Sarah sat in Hoults Yard smiling to camera.

Sustainability drives success at BeaconHouse Events

BEACONHOUSE EVENTS, a leading events agency headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, has grown its revenues by over 40% in 2023, following major client wins and an investment in a five-year ESG strategy.

Over the last year the agency, based in Hoults Yard, has secured a raft of major new clients, partnering with ambitious businesses across the emerging tech, education, innovation, architecture, healthcare, and creative arts sectors. New clients include Newcastle Building Society, Newcastle Strategic Solutions, Newcastle Carers, CF Fertilisers, HyHubs, North of Tyne Combined Authority, the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (the largest applied mathematics conference in the UK) and the British Society for Oral and Dental Research.

The agency saw a 40% increase in turnover in 2023 through a mix of in-person, digital, and hybrid events for their national client portfolio. As UK businesses looked to battle burnout and the Great Resignation, strategically designed staff engagement events have formed a key part of the company’s growth and will continue to be a priority over the coming year. The business has also welcomed three new team members over the past twelve months.

Alongside an organic growth plan, in early 2023 BeaconHouse Events announced its five-year ESG strategy which aims to position the agency as a leading voice when it comes to driving positive change across the event sector. Over the last year, the team has launched a series of collaborative, strategic, and considered initiatives designed to ethically offset the carbon impact of the business and drive sector-wide sustainable change. A series of tactical innovations will directly address how they create experiences that move the business towards their aim of becoming and remaining, a carbon responsible business, while still maintaining a fantastic experience for all delegates. This includes ‘meat-free by default’ catering at major events (a tactic that significantly reduced the carbon impact with one simple, measurable change), an investment into in-depth carbon tracing technology TRACE and donating the carbon credit equivalent to local charities and community organisations who align with the business’ mission.

Catherine Duhaut, co-founder and director at BeaconHouse Events, said: “BeaconHouse Events will turn 10 years old in 2024, and our vision has always been to drive lasting, positive impact with every event that we deliver. We have seen a rise in clients looking to engage with their teams in a really meaningful way post-pandemic and we see that trend continuing over the next year as organisations strive to recruit and retain the best talent and say thank you to their teams for navigating a particularly turbulent few years. We have had the pleasure of working with a range of incredible clients over the past year, both here in the North East and nationally. We are proud to call the North East home, and it is encouraging to see national organisations looking outside of London, especially to our region, to deliver events of national and international significance. We have big plans for 2024 and beyond and we can’t wait to get stuck into another busy year and work with even more ambitious businesses to raise their profiles, engage their teams, and put our region on the map.

“We have some high-profile projects in the pipeline this year and these plans will mean more opportunities for BeaconHouse. The talent in our regional freelance community is fantastic and we are always looking to speak to resourceful and trusted people to partner with us. We continually invest in our people and our success is truly a testament to the team and the culture that BeaconHouse Events has today.”

In 2023 BeaconHouse Events co-curated and delivered the inaugural TechNExt festival in partnership with Dynamo and Sunderland Software City. The festival is set to take place again in June 2024 and will see over 3,000 attendees and feature a lineup of 50+ community-led fringe events alongside its flagship event programme and a new schools challenge initiative to engage young people in tech.

Speaking about being part of the team behind the festival, and what it means for the region Sarah Thackray, co-founder and director of BeaconHouse Events, said: “The first TechNExt festival was an incredible celebration of the thriving tech sector here in the North East. From curated showcases to community-led fringe events, TechNExt23 displayed the diversity, achievements, and innovation of the North East’s tech scene. We’ll be looking for even more impact for the sector with TechNExt24, and we’re keen to engage more businesses, particularly around the fringe programme which was such a success this year.”

For more information on BeaconHouse Events visit www.beaconhouse-events.co.uk