New Events Space

The Salem Auditorium, built in the old grade II listed chapel owned by aql, which seats 370, has now been in operation for a year (so we can’t really call it ‘new’ any longer!)?

aql Events at Salem Chapel

One of the more recent events was a charity fundraiser and dragons’ den griller/toaster for several social enterprises on behalf of the Yorkshire Venture Philanthropists organised by Leeds Community Foundation. The keynote speaker was Sir Tim Smit  founder and driving force of the Eden Project.

Now… they say you shouldn’t meet your idols in case they disappoint. However, all I can say is (Sir) Tim was awesome! In his unique style he highlighted the business risk of energy as a commodity – which is the elephant in the corner of the room to most datacentre operators. His vision on power strategy were in absolute alignment with aql’s strategy to generate and export power from its facilities where it can. The reason we aim to do this is so that we can underpin a sustainable pricing model for our datacentre services. This allows us to ensure that our customers do not find themselves victim to unforeseen and disproportional price raises.

The event went fantastically, with our ‘dragons’ including Jonathan Straight, CEO of Straight PLC, best selling author and entrepreneur, Deidre Bounds, and venture capitalist Pete Yendell, providing objective feedback on the social entrepreneurs who were brave enough to step onto the very formal stage, which is part of our restored choirs gallery and organ pit.