The NEC was originally going to be built adjacent to the M1 motorway (junction 21) near Leicester but it was turned down by Leicestershire County Council with claims that "The big shows won't move away from London".

[3] In November 1971, the Secretary of State for the Environment granted outline planning approval for the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

[4] On 16 February 1973, then Prime Minister Edward Heath travelled up from London to cut a white ribbon and initiate its construction,[5] which was carried out by RM Douglas (know today as Tilbury Douglas),[6] to a design by Edward Mills.

[12] The NEC has 20 interconnected halls covering 190,000 m2 (2,000,000 sq ft) of floor space.

[16] After short-listing three contenders to purchase the company, the sale to Lloyds Development Capital, the private equity unit of Lloyds Banking Group, was completed in January 2015 for £307 million.