IN January 1984, while the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was being constructed, its chief executive Chris Garrett made his first appointment, an events sales executive called Peter Duthie.

Some 33 years later and as chief executive himself, Mr Duthie has just overseen the complete rebranding of the SECC to the Scottish Events Campus.

“I can’t find the password to get out,” he jokes. “It’s been an incredible journey and you can imagine the privilege it was to be asked to lead the team.”

Over his time, Mr Duthie has witnessed the Glasgow Garden Festival arrive on the banks of the Clyde, Glasgow’s stint as European City of Culture and the subsequent rejuvenation of a broken city, the opening of the Armadillo and then The Hydro. He’s welcomed athletes from around the world at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and booked performances from too many musicians to mention.

And now Mr Duthie’s plans reflect the fact the SEC has changed the landscape of the Clydeside: he wants it to become the most successful events campus in Europe.

Part of this includes lobbying Glasgow City Council – which owns more than 90 per cent of the SEC – and the Scottish Government to fund a £110m extension to the newly renamed SEC Centre, which would allow it to sustainably compete with the largest venues on the Continent.

Last year it hosted 42 exhibitions, including eight new shows. Pre-tax profits hit £1 million on revenue of £29.4m

Referring to the recent rebranding, he says: “We believe Scottish Events Campus positions us well for the future, it is more descriptive, better represents the business and is more user friendly.”

When Rod Stewart took to the stage as the first act at the Hydro in 2013, even the SEC management didn’t quite anticipate the impact the £116m venue would have on the city.

“The Hydro has surpassed expectations, it would be arrogant to say otherwise,” he says. “We’d staged events in a converted exhibition hall, but we knew the audiences deserved better. Most UK cities had a purpose-built arena, so we were ambitious to deliver that. Glasgow has a great reputation, artists love the crowd and we wanted to provide a venue that matched the audience.”

The business plan had ambitions for 700,000 annual visitors. In year one it passed one million.

“The Hydro has resonated on the world stage for sure,” he says. “In its first year it was the second busiest arena in the world.”

It’s not just the SEC that has benefitted from The Hydro’s success – that nearby Finnieston has become a hive of bars and restaurants is in part because of the audiences drawn there for events.

“Finnieston has reached a critical mass,” says Mr Duthie. “It has the sustainability to survive now. Even if there’s nothing on at The Hydro you struggle for a table.”

And it could become even trickier if the expansion gets the go-ahead. Mr Duthie hopes to have a better idea of whether plans can proceed in the next six months, but he believes it would “deliver significant economy benefit to the city and the country”.

In the year to March 2016 the additional cash spent in Glasgow as a result of people attending the SEC was £411m, with a further £308m spent elsewhere in Scotland.

With the increase in visitors has come an increase in places for them to lay down after a day’s conferencing or a night dancing. A number of new and established hotels have all benefitted from the campus’ success – and a further three are set to open, bringing another 600 rooms, with a Radisson Red already under construction.

“The additional hotels with bars and restaurants will help,” he says. “Once there is further development on the west [of the site], that will help. And the city’s ambition to join up the west end, through Byres Road, Glasgow Harbour and our site, into the city centre will provide cohesion all along the river.”

Like any business leader, Mr Duthie has been paying close attention to the political upheaval since the Brexit vote and the subsequent economic uncertainty.

“My instinct is that Brexit shouldn’t have a major impact on our business – the challenges will be the on wider economy. If the economy is hit by Brexit then that impacts people’s ability to buy tickets for events, or to participate in exhibitions whether as stand holder or visitor. If the economy thrives, clearly that picks up.”

As to the weakness in sterling since the Brexit vote, Mr Duthie says this has made Glasgow more competitive in an industry he describes as “very price sensitive”.

“It’s not just Euro businesses meeting the UK, it also means UK businesses are less likely to go to Europe so there has been an increase in enquiries purely on a price point,” he says.

Three decades and counting, being asked to name his highlights proves quite the challenge. “The obvious one more recently would be when Rod Stewart stepped on stage, the first night of the Hydro, and you think, ‘I know this building works’,” he says. “The Commonwealth Games was another major highlight. Going further back, it’s a lot of firsts, the Royal Opening by the Queen at the motor show in 1985, getting the Armadillo opened in 1997.”

With a new name, that list of firsts may soon get even longer.