Church House Westminster has launched a new instant event package to help event organisers find last-minute venue hire solutions until the end of 2021.
The venue stands ready to instantly facilitate daytime conferences by offering a ready-to-go all-inclusive conference package with both room hire and audio-visual equipment for in-person events from £6,385.
Event organisers can choose to include live streaming with a £1,495 bolt-on or make the conference hybrid with a £2,000 supplement.
The move follows an influx of last-minute venue hire requests in recent months expertly organised by the venue team, which boasts both in-situ event planners and technologists.
With lead times for events seemingly getting shorter since the pandemic, RIBA at 66 Portland Place has seen an increase in demand for its ‘Build Your Own’ packages as organisers look to book last-minute meetings and team catch ups.
Whether it’s a small-scale leadership meeting or an all-company AGM, RIBA’s ‘Build Your Own’ meeting package – a subtle nod to its architectural roots – has been designed to simplify the organisation of an in-person or hybrid event. A range of food & beverage options set at multiple price points to suit budget and taste are available, as well as a choice of fully equipped rooms featuring Art Deco details and all the necessary AV facilities for large, mid-sized and intimate meetings.
Organising a last-minute event is no mean feat but the ‘Build Your Own’ packages are the perfect option for organisers needing to create a successful and memorable event experience at short notice. To find out more about the ‘Build Your Own’ event packages and availability, email [email protected].
To celebrate IET London: Savoy Place’s exciting new catering partnership with Searcys, the venue is giving away bottles of their finest Champagne when you book a show-round this September.
Explore the incredible event spaces at Savoy Place with an exclusive guided tour of its meeting rooms, lecture theatres and stunning Johnson Roof Terrace offering panoramic city views, ideal for events ranging from conferences to training days.
To claim your mouth-watering prize, simply quote “September Champers” when booking a show-round and claim your bottle at the end of the tour.
After an incredibly challenging year for the events industry, the collection of London venues is witnessing a steady growth in enquiries from both event planners and prospective new member venues.
Joining the consortium, Westminster Boating Base is a unique, spacious venue with unparalleled views across the Thames, located in the picturesque Pimlico Gardens. The main room, ideal for wedding receptions, dinners and launches, boasts floor to ceiling windows and a full-length balcony extending over the river, ensuring a space filled with natural light and maximising the unmissable views.
The smaller Edgson Room also benefits from a river terrace, this versatile space is perfect for pre-dinner receptions, conference break outs, wedding ceremonies or to dance the night away as it has a built-in lighting rig.
The spacious outdoor Pavilion with wrap-around terraces also offers an ideal setting for receptions and parties. For an added unique benefit of the venue, there is a private pier for unforgettable travel to and from the venue, taking in the sights of the River Thames.
As a registered charity, the venue hire fee directly supports Westminster Boating Base Trust’s charitable activities for disadvantaged young people to aid personal and social development through water-sports. The venue is managed and exclusively catered by acclaimed London venue caterers, The Admirable Crichton.
On the decision to join Westminster Venue Collection, Ruth Lawton-Owen, Managing Director of The Admirable Crichton said: “Joining Westminster Venue Collection was always top of our to do list when we took over the management of Westminster Boating Base. We are delighted to become part of this prestigious collection of venues and very much look forward to working together.”
The Chair of Westminster Venue Collection, Rachel Azzopardi, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming the idyllic riverside Westminster Boating Base to our collection. As a destination, Westminster offers great variety and it’s so exciting to be adding yet another venue that’s so different from the already unique portfolio we have. After recent challenging times it is encouraging that the demand for venues to become members of consortia is once again growing, and the enthusiasm the Westminster Boating Base team have shown already is a fantastic addition for us.”
To view the entire collection or to find out more, please visit www.wvc.london.
As the industry opens up and we can now once again host meetings in person, explore the superb range of meeting spaces and facilities that Westminster’s finest venues have to offer.
RIBA The Aston Webb room at RIBA at 66 Portland Place is part of the original 1934 building and reflects the unique character of the venue, which is renowned for representing the best of British Architecture. This space is popular for VIP events, committee, or boardroom-style meetings, with capacity for up to 22 guests.
The Aston Webb room is located on the second floor of the building and is accessed via 66 Portland Place’s stunning marble staircase, which makes for an incredibly grand entrance route for guests! With walls lined with leather and joinery in Indian laurel wood, the Aston Webb room exudes a stately, mid-century vibe with period features galore, and is complemented by large windows that fill the space with an abundance of natural daylight and a grand view of the tree-lined Portland Place.
QEII Centre
Located on the fifth floor of the QEII Centre, the Hawking is an ideal meetings space as it can accommodate 25 at full capacity. A versatile space, it can be used for standalone meetings or as a syndicate space for larger conferences and events. It can also be set up in several different layouts including boardroom, u-shape and cabaret.
Alternatively, the Burton is a highly adaptable space that can be used as a standalone meeting room, syndicate space or in combination with other 2nd floor spaces for larger meetings. Hire of the Burton includes the adjoining Redgrave, which provides the option to increase capacity beyond 40 or as a catering space.
Holding your meeting in either room will enable you to take advantage of the large windows that provide excellent natural light and an impressive backdrop, which includes Westminster Abbey. The QEII Centre’s in-house team QEII Taste are on hand to support your meeting, with catering to suit your needs whether you require breakfast, tea and coffee or lunch, while their AV team QEII Live offers state of the art AV technology and onsite support for your meeting.
RSA House
The Prince Philip Room at RSA House is a beautifully decorated and spacious first-floor event space, blending traditional characteristics with modern convenience. The room features impressive audio-visual equipment, making it a suitable location for virtual and hybrid meetings.
The original Adam ceiling with painted roundels offers a stunning focus to the room, as well as large windows allowing plenty of natural daylight in. The space can accommodate 30 guests when set up as a boardroom and encompasses multiple built-in screens and cameras, with great emphasis on getting the best sound quality for remote participants. The equipment is all controlled very simply via an iPad. Audio and video conferencing packages are available on request.
In 2012 the Prince Philip Room was named after HRH Duke of Edinburgh to mark his long-standing service as the President of the Society from 1952. Formerly named the Adelphi Room, this room was originally the dining room of the Adelphi Tavern.
IET London: Savoy Place
The Wedmore Boardroom is a modern, high-tech London event space provides an air-conditioned, premium executive meeting room on the first floor for private or corporate events and senior/CEO level meetings. Up to 26 delegates can meet comfortably in the state-of-the-art boardroom with natural daylight, spectacular views over the Thames and cutting-edge audio-visual equipment.
An impressive space, the meeting room comes with an in-built wall-mounted flat-screen 95” HD display, 6x 55” relay screens and first-class connectivity services for video conferencing and live streaming. It’s Bose sound system provides a clear and professional facility for slick events.
This year, for many reasons, organising a corporate Christmas party will be a chance to bring teams together in real life, to connect again after a year of meeting behind screens.
First things first, finalise your budget. Take a look at previous Christmas parties and compare what you offered that year and what you’d like to offer this year.
Find a venue with a convenient central location near major tube and overland stations, making it easy for guests to access the venue and plan safe journeys to head back home after the party.
Confirm the date and timings. Some guests may need to leave earlier, so ensure that they don’t miss the big entertainment acts of the evening.
Make a night of it and offer guests a preferential corporate rate at a nearby hotel for overnight stays. Ask us about the local hotels we have partnered with for multi-day conferences, awards dinners, and evening parties.
Decide on a theme and make sure to feature it in your invitations and throughout your pre-event communications. Here are a few of our favourite corporate Christmas party themes that work a treat at Church House Westminster:
A Gatsby Christmas: welcome to a decadent speakeasy featuring a jazz band to celebrate the Roaring Twenties with a cheeky Charleston or two.
Christmas through the decades: from Nina Simone to Nicki Minaj, this evening will take your guests all the way through the 60s to now.
Christmas Luau: Aloha from Hawaii, a holiday theme featuring grass skirts, tropical tastes, and beach vibes.
A Christmas Masquerade Ball: a different kind of mask (thank goodness!), be it with a Mardi Gras or Venetian twist.
Carefully choose menusand drinks to match. An informal reception party might be a preferred option depending on your guests, compared to an elaborate sit-down dinner. Arrange a complimentary menu tasting with our team.
Confirm the entertainment. Guided by your theme, we’d be delighted to recommend a range of creative options for you to consider.
Add a hybrid event element to ensure those who are not able to attend in person, can join online. Ask our team about creating online experiences for virtual guests.
Finally, relax as our venue team makes sure that your festive party goes like clockwork as your guests enjoy an immersive party experience.
For more information about corporate Christmas party planning, please contact the team via the contact form or call 020 7390 1590 to discuss your event.
London Transport Museum will be brightening up dreary autumnal evenings by hosting a brand-new season of themed events on selected Friday nights, starting this September and running until the end of the year.
Hosted by creatives, journalists, writers, scientists and historians, each event features themed activities and quizzes inspired by London’s history, heritage and culture.
The new After Dark events will offer guests the chance to enjoy a post-work culture fix as they explore London Transport Museum’s galleries and exhibitions after hours from 18:30 to 21:00.
Visitors can peruse the Museum free from crowds and catch up with friends with a drink from the pop-up bar, where the Museum’s must-try signature red Routemaster cocktail will be on offer.
Guests can also weave their way through the atmospheric passageways of the award-winning Hidden London exhibition in the Global Gallery – now extended by popular demand – and get a glimpse of what the next decade could hold for life in the Capital in the new London 2030 installation.
In the recently redeveloped London’s Transport at War gallery visitors can learn about the important role London’s transport has played at home and abroad during global conflicts, while a stroll around the London by Design gallery will delight design fans, showcasing the world-famous art and design heritage of the Capital’s transport, from maps to moquette, the iconic seating fabric familiar to all Londoners.
The first event in the new series on Friday 3 September is themed around the Museum’s Hidden London tours of ‘ghost’ stations and other secret sites across the Capital’s transport network. Chris Nix, London Transport Museum’s Assistant Director of Collections and Engagement and Siddy Holloway, Hidden London Engagement Manager and star of the new Yesterday channel documentary, Secrets of the London Underground, hosted the evening, testing guests knowledge of London’s subterranean sites and secrets in a lively pub-style quiz.
Tickets to all After Dark events cost £12 (Concession £10) and can be booked online ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/after-dark. 18:30-21:00. Over 18s only.
London’s leading conference and events venue, The QEII Centre, welcomed climate experts to a ground-breaking discussion about the creation of a sustainable food system.
The event, organised by Compass Group UK & Ireland, took place at QEII on 20 July where it brought together government representatives, business leaders and academics to talk about how we can reduce climate emissions by building a sustainable food system.
World-renowned climate experts, including the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion Andrew Griffith MP, climate academic, Professor Sir Charles Godfray and Food Foundation Director Anna Taylor spoke to over 150 attendees from the QEII’s Churchill room.
The QEII’s in-house AV team QEII Live created and supported a live link so that more than 400 people could attend virtually. They included Diane Holdorf, managing director of Food and Nature for World Business Council for Sustainable Development, who spoke by video link from Geneva.
Following the discussion, attendees were invited by Compass to a food tasting, prepared by QEII’s in-house caterers QEII Taste. The team, led by head chef Jean-Michel Viala, created a sumptuous, yet low-carbon menu of Lincolnshire cauliflower stalk and leaf with samphire, Chalk Stream river trout with a watercress sauce and roasted Worcestershire beetroot, carrot and sundried tomato, with cherry vinegar dressing.
The conference was the first major in-person event held at QEII since 23 March 2020 when it was closed due to the nationwide lockdown. The event was held as part of Compass Group UK & Ireland’s, commitment to achieve Climate Net Zero by 2030.
As colleagues and clients return to the office, Lincoln’s Inn is showing support to the industry with 30% off* room hire in its Ashworth Centre meeting rooms for events taking place in September and October 2021.
Set within the tranquil and historic enclave of Lincoln’s Inn’s 11-acre estate, lies the modern and stylish Ashworth Centre. Officially opened in December 2018 by HM Queen Elizabeth II, the centre is named after Mercy Ashworth, one of the first two women to be called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1923. Comprising a suite of ten meeting rooms and a double height lecture theatre, the conference centre provides a charming juxtaposition of old and new, as the venue’s extensive history of Grade I and II listed buildings are complemented with contemporary facilities including hybrid capabilities, first-class service and delectable in-house catering.
To make use of this limited time offer, please quote’ WVCMEET30’ when submitting your enquiry to [email protected].
*discount applies on full rates only, and is subject to availability.
Emma has been at Broadway House for almost 23 years – a staggering commitment and a well-placed event professional to comment on the changing landscape of the sector.
As an integral member of the Broadway House team, we spoke with Emma this month to find out how her work as a Conferences Coordinator has changed recently.
What has kept you in the business meetings and events industry for so long and what do you love about it most?
Firstly, working alongside a strong team at Broadway House as well as my colleagues within the Make Venues Group. I really do feel part of something great with likeminded people who really care about the customer experience. It’s a pleasure to come to work every day. I love to chat and make people feel good so getting to speak with clients every day and help to organise successful events really is the perfect job for me.
Based on your extensive experience in the industry, what has been the most difficult adjustment to working through the pandemic? The first major adjustment was working at home for the first few months. I was used to being in a busy and bustling venue in central Westminster so not being in that environment was hard.
On returning to the venue in July 2020 it was so sad seeing the building almost empty. But the team and I remained positive and worked on what we could do to improve and adapt. Broadway House has a new floor of great meeting spaces as well as investing in Hybrid Technology…we’ve been busy!
What’s been your favourite event over the years? Every year we are lucky to have a Charity hire Broadway House for a Post London Marathon Meet Up. Broadway House is extremely close to the finishing line so a great base for family and friends of the charity’s runners to gather during and after the race – along with the runners once they have completed the 26 miles. On their return our chefs (Wilson Vale) provide a delicious hearty meal for the runners after their hard work! It’s so great to feel part of the excitement and anticipation as we all wait for the runners to return.
If you had one message to give to any hesitant event planners, what would it be? Just go for it!
By speaking with your chosen venue and discussing your concerns, hearing the cleaning and hygiene measures in place – I think you’ll find great events can take place safely.
Why is Westminster the ultimate destination for events? It’s the heart of London. Close to all the major attractions – Big Ben and Buckingham Palace to name a few. Delegates can attend great events and at the end of the day go off and explore!
Venue Collection
Hire prestigious, unique and unusual London venues and facilities with Westminster Venue Collection.
The Westminster Venue Collection’s venues range from fashionable townhouses and private members’ clubs, to luxury hotels, celebrated attractions, historic institutes and societies.
As a collection of leading, multi-purpose venues in central London, our members have a wealth of experience in creating unforgettable experiences for meetings and events. In this blog, we’ll share some of their expert advice…
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