Thirty years on: Building the Conference Centre, 1995-2015

October 2025 marked both 10 years since Hinxton Hall Conference Centre was redeveloped, and 30 years since it was first built.

The first building work started in 1995 when Wellcome Trust meticulously restored the Georgian Hall and transformed the old stable block and kitchen garden into a purpose-built Conference Centre that opened in 1998. The Auditorium was then its own round building, surrounded by lawns and glass-sided cloister exhibition space. The Barbara McClintock Pavilion overlooking the orchard was also built at that time.

The next set of major works was carried out during 2012-2015. This was when the external courtyard was covered with a beautiful steel and glass roof to form the current Event Space, and the Rosalind Franklin Pavilion was created.

Watch this fascinating slideshow of photos from both the builds in 1995-6 and 2014-2015.

You may also be interested in the fate of the uncommon black mulberry tree that was relocated from the courtyard in 2014 to make way for the new covered space. See below!