SEC Glasgow

Book everything early, ideally about six months before the show: your stand space, travel, accommodation and your stand contractor. Glasgow has a busy events calendar, and booking early gives you the best choice and the best value. This is good practice at any venue, and it matters here.

Contractor registration. Every SEC event requires exhibitors and their stand contractors to register with the organiser's official contractor system before build-up. That typically covers public liability insurance, risk assessments and method statements for anything beyond a basic shell scheme fit-out.

Submit the paperwork as soon as your exhibitor manual arrives. These deadlines are strictly enforced.

Venue services. Electrical connections, rigging for hanging structures, internet and additional furniture are ordered through the venue's official service providers and are not included by default in most stand packages. Order early - last-minute requests at any large UK venue carry a premium and cannot always be guaranteed.

Before you travel, ask the organiser for:

• the exhibitor manual and the build-up and breakdown times for your hall
• the official contractor registration link and deadline
• insurance, risk assessment and method statement requirements
• how power, internet, rigging and furniture are ordered, and the order deadline
• where your contractor unloads, and your delivery slot
• the waste and breakdown collection arrangements

The organiser's manual is the source of truth for all of this. The guidance on this page is general and may differ for your show.

What to order from the venue, and what costs more than you expect:

• Catering. Stand catering at the SEC goes through the venue's caterer, SEC Food, who take orders online at sec.standcatering.co.uk. Choose your event, and note that prices are shown excluding VAT. It is the best place to understand costs before you plan hospitality. In our experience, a barista on your stand incurs corkage, and it is expensive. The same applies to bringing your own juices and soft drinks. Check the current terms with SEC Food before you commit.
• WiFi. Order dedicated internet for your stand. Mobile signal inside the halls can be poor, and the standard shared WiFi struggles when the show is at its busiest because so many exhibitors are on it. If you take payments, run a live demo or scan leads, you want your own line.
• Hanging banners and rigging. Anything hanging has to be booked and organised through the venue's technical services, who handle most rigging. Some organisers instead require exhibitors to book rigging through them, and that can cost far more. Read the exhibitor manual before you design anything that hangs.

Electrics: what your electrical contractor needs to know. Power is ordered through the venue. For each event the SEC supplies a disconnector (formerly called an isolator) to your electrical contractor, and the system is now plug and play: the outgoing side carries either a 415V three-phase 5-pin socket or a 240V single-phase 3-pin socket, so your electrician needs the matching plug on their lead, and does not connect directly inside the disconnector.

• The SEC uses as many red three-phase units as possible, so expect more red than blue.
• Blue single-phase disconnectors can be used anywhere in the halls, and they are the dedicated 24-hour supplies for any 24-hour orders.
• If you need single phase from a three-phase socket, bring a lead with an L1, L2 or L3 connection, and balance the load across L1, L2 and L3.
• Unless you provide a distribution unit with 30mA RCD protection, the SEC provides a 63A three-phase input to 63A three-phase output disconnector. The Service Tunnel RCD modules are 300mA.
• Hall 3 is the exception: its service ducts have 32A three-phase red supplies only, plus five 32A single-phase wall supplies.

This guidance comes from the SEC's electrical event planning team and can change, so confirm the power plan for your own show with the organiser.

Eight questions to ask any stand contractor before an SEC show:

1. Have you built in my hall, and can I see photos of stands you have built here?
2. Who registers with the organiser and submits the risk assessment and method statement?
3. What is included: power, rigging, graphics, flooring, furniture?
4. Who orders venue services, and who watches the deadlines?
5. If a panel, graphic or counter is missing on build day, where is your stock and how quickly can it reach the hall?
6. Who is on site during build, and who signs the stand off with me?
7. What does the stand cost to store and reuse after the show?
8. What are your dismantle and collection arrangements?

The quickest way from Glasgow Airport to the SEC is a taxi: about 15 minutes outside rush hour, usually £25 to £40, with taxis waiting outside arrivals. Allow longer at peak times and around event changeovers. Fares vary, so treat the range as a guide.

The cheapest and most reliable public route takes about half an hour:

1. Take the Glasgow Airport Express, service 500. It runs 24 hours a day, up to every 10 minutes, and takes about 15 minutes to the city centre. A single fare is currently £2, so check First Bus for the latest.
2. Get off at Bothwell Street at Hope Street, close to Glasgow Central.
3. Go into Central and take the train from Platform 17 (low level) to Exhibition Centre station. It takes three minutes, with around six trains an hour.
4. A covered walkway links the station to the campus.

Plan for the whole transfer, not just the bus: the airport bus ends in the city centre, so add the train and the walk to your hall. If you are carrying samples or travelling in a group, a taxi is easier.

By train from elsewhere, Exhibition Centre station is served from Glasgow Central, not Queen Street. From Queen Street, walk to Central (about five minutes) or take a taxi. Argyle Street has no lift, so use Central for step-free travel. On busy days the SEC suggests walking from the station via Finnieston Street rather than the covered walkway, to avoid the crowds.

The main car park is the 1,600-space multi-storey directly opposite the SEC's front entrance (postcode G3 8GS). It is open 24 hours and links to the campus by an accessible covered walkway of about 59 metres, with lifts to every level. Depending on the event, you may also be able to park on the west side of the venue: check your exhibitor manual.

Vans and tall vehicles: the car park has a 2 metre height limit. If your vehicle is taller, contact Glasgow City Council parking services (parkingservices@glasgow.gov.uk) before your visit to ask about alternatives. Public car parks are not for unloading stand materials: use the loading arrangements in your exhibitor manual.

Cost: at the time of writing (SEC car park information updated 31 August 2026) the charges were £6 for up to an hour, £12 for 1 to 12 hours and £24 for 12 to 24 hours, seven days a week, with a 12-hour pre-pay option at £12 for events and concerts. During events the pay machines may default to the event tariff, so if you are staying less than an hour, do not pay £12: use the intercom or ask staff for the correct charge. Check current prices before you travel.

Book crew parking early. Capacity tightens noticeably when a large event is running at the SEC Armadillo or the OVO Hydro at the same time as your show, and those dates are not always obvious from your own show's schedule.

Vehicle and loading access is organised per show by the official contractor named in your exhibitor manual. The public car parks are not a loading area.

Vehicle and loading access is organised per show by the official contractor named in your exhibitor manual.

Confirm your specific slot with the organiser rather than assuming it matches a previous show at the same venue. It changes by hall and by event.

Height is not the constraint. The halls have generous ceiling height, and the stands we build here are simple structures up to 4 metres, so we have not needed to design around the roof. Anything hanging or rigged is a separate matter: check the organiser's manual and the venue's technical pack.

Build and breakdown windows are set per show in the exhibitor manual and vary by hall and by stand type. Breakdown deadlines are strict: the venue needs halls cleared for the next event.

If you are using a full-service supplier you do not need to be on site for the whole build. Your project manager oversees it and you come in towards the end to sign the finished stand off.

Space-only stands normally require a submitted risk assessment and method statement before build-up begins, and every contractor needs insurance documentation on file with the organiser. Your stand contractor should handle this as a matter of course - if you are using a supplier for the first time, confirm what has been submitted on your behalf.

We are local, so we do not stay here ourselves. If you are travelling in, book early: Glasgow has a busy events calendar and the hotels closest to the campus fill first.

Hotels shown on the SEC's own site plan, next to or close to the campus: Crowne Plaza Glasgow, Hilton Garden Inn Glasgow City Centre, Courtyard by Marriott Glasgow SEC, Moxy Glasgow SEC and Radisson RED Glasgow, with a Premier Inn, a Village Hotel and a Campanile also nearby.

Choose by what matters on a build day, not just distance: how early breakfast starts, the walking route to your hall, parking, flexible cancellation and group booking. Check each hotel's own site for current breakfast times and rates.

On the campus: Clydebuilt Bar & Kitchen, in the heart of the SEC Centre, is a bar and restaurant with an all-day menu. Walk-ins are welcome in the bar. The kitchen area can be pre-booked at selected events. Food and drink outlets on campus are cashless, so bring a contactless card. See the SEC's eating at the SEC page for event-day opening times.

There is also a small convenience store in the middle of the concourse for juices, coffees and sandwiches, which is handy on build days and show days.

Off campus: Finnieston, a short walk or taxi ride away, has a strong restaurant scene, and Glasgow is famous for its curries. For stand catering, drinks and hospitality on your own stand, see the venue services notes under Deadlines.

Official SEC information, hosted by the SEC (check each page for the current version):

• SEC campus site plan (PDF, February 2023 version): halls, entrances, taxi rank, bus stop, car parks and Exhibition Centre station. Layouts can change, so check with your organiser.
• SEC: getting here by train
• SEC: getting here by plane
• SEC: walking
• SEC: accessibility

For build-up times, contractor registration and power, internet and rigging orders, use your organiser's exhibitor manual.

Shows we have built here: CYBERUK, All Energy, EAIE, BACO, ABS, ERA and Manufacturing & Supply Chain Expo.

The SEC is our home venue. We have built more stands here than at any other venue in the UK - and our Glasgow depot is a short drive from the build entrances.

What more than 40 SEC builds have taught us. Since 2023 we have built more than 40 stands at the SEC, for exhibitors direct and for agencies. Most are 6 metres wide, with 6m x 3m, 6m x 4m and 6m x 5m the most common. Peninsulas and corners make up around three quarters of them, the rest are islands, and a little over half are on T3 with the rest on Aluvision. The biggest lesson is not about design: the exhibitors who book early get the best space, the best price and the least stress.

Because both systems are in stock at our Glasgow depot, 15 minutes from the halls, late changes are practical: an extra counter, a graphic reprint or a replacement panel is a van journey, not a crisis.

Recent work on this campus includes Shepherd & Wedderburn and Ecocel at All Energy, and Medtronic at BACO, with further stands at CYBERUK, ABS, ERA and EAIE.

Both our Aluvision and T3 stock sits in Glasgow, so a missing panel on build day is a van journey rather than a crisis. We are ESSA Tier 5 accredited - the only stand builder in Scotland to hold it.

Recent direct exhibitor stands at the SEC:

• SSI Schaefer at Manufacturing & Supply Chain Expo 2026: a 3m x 3m corner stand on our T3 system.
• Shepherd & Wedderburn at All Energy, 2025 and 2026: a 6m x 5m Aluvision peninsula, as headline sponsor in 2025.
• Acubed.IT at CYBERUK 2026: a 6m x 6m island on our T3 system.
• Ecocel at All Energy 2026: a 6m x 3m T3 stand.

Ready to plan your SEC stand? See exhibition stand hire in Glasgow, the Stand Selector for fixed prices, and how much an exhibition stand costs.