Cotswolds Conference Centre

The growth of a dynamic conference business

Jørgen Philip-Sørensen

Cotswold Conference Centre was launched in January 2001 by the entrepreneur Jørgen Philip-Sørensen. The meeting and training business had its origins 30 years previously in a residential training school for Group 4 Total Security on Farncombe Estate. In the beginning, Group 4 security guards would attend Head Office training courses and stay in dormitory-style accommodation.

By the 1980s, Group 4 was running open courses for UK and overseas delegates in all aspects of security, safety and fire prevention. This then developed into management training for blue chip organisations, using the 370 acre estate and local countryside. As the company’s reputation grew, so did turnover and investment in facilities. In its final year of trading, Group 4 Securitas Training Ltd turned over some £10m.

In 2000, Group 4 merged with Falck A/S from Denmark, then with Securicor, to create one of the largest security organisations in the world. Now known as G4S, the new group decided to focus on core activities and it was then decided by the Group 4 founder and G4S President Emeritus Jørgen Philip-Sørensen CBE to launch the superb facilities as a commercial training venue.

The much-loved boss, “JPS”, sadly passed away in January 2010, but the Philip-Sørensen family retains control of Farncombe Estate and has invested heavily in the refurbishment and building of additional bedrooms. Cotswold Conference Centre is a dynamic and important part of Sorven Holdings Ltd.

Cotswold Conference Centre is a multi-award winning conference and training venue with an international client base and the perfect Midlands location.  Companies enjoy the opportunities for outdoor teambuilding on and off the 370-estate, while residential delegates appreciate the central England location and free transfers from the London train.

Companies like Balfour Beatty, West Midlands Police and Allied Bakeries meet and train at the purpose-built training and conference rooms.  Cotswold Conference Centre has lots of unique ideas to make each event special including unusual dining options, Escape the Olympics packages and green conferencing.  Discreet meetings are a speciality.

The company is an active member of Conference Centres of Excellence, a marketing consortium of some of the finest independent meeting venues in England, and of the IACC (International Association of Conference Centres), the global home of approved conference centres.