The Edinburgh Zoo is a one-of-a-kind place to host an event, and we LOVED it. With a plethora of genuinely fun experiences that stand out so much in the current events landscape, Edinburgh zoo combines these wild encounters with meeting spaces that shine as top class in their own right!
We knew before our visit to Edinburgh Zoo that this was going to be a really exciting venue. It’s a zoo, right? You definitely don’t see a giraffe every day in the world of conferencing!
However, when we got to experience everything that the zoo had to offer, we realised that the passionate events team here have taken it to another level, with every aspect of the offerings here. Really incredible, wide ranging catering options, genuinely caring sustainability programmes that go hand in hand with the work of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), and top-notch meeting spaces - mostly based in their Mansion House.
The Mansion house is at the heart of the 82-acre Zoo and is a stunning building in its own right. Here you’ll find some of the more traditional style meeting spaces that Edinburgh Zoo has to offer, with the more quirky and varied spaces such the venue’s largest room - The Budongo Lecture theatre - are spaced out throughout the zoo.
You’ll enter Edinburgh Zoo right by the spacious car park with over 300 spaces for guests. The entrance itself is sleek and modern, with the front facing facade of the entrance building, a huge mossy living wall. You straight away get the impression that this is a venue that cares for the environment that it occupies. We got this impression even more when speaking to the staff here at the zoo about some of their fantastic sustainability schemes.
The zoo uses secondary harvesting, meaning that food that would normally go spare or to waste due to over-production is used in their menus to create the impeccable food that they have on offer here. The RZSS is itself is a wildlife conservation charity that is on a mission to ethically protect some of nature’s greatest wonders, so the sustainability goes beyond the Scottish supplies, secondary harvested food, and into animal conservation - when you choose Edinburgh Zoo. We particularly loved the RZSS’s pledge to reverse the decline of at least 50 species by 2030 - if that isn’t some of the best sustainability a venue can offer… then we don’t know what is!
Inside the Zoo, everything was pristine, pathways extremely clean and very clearly marked - allowing easy navigation from one meeting space to another. As you make that commute, you get a flavour (pun intended) for how many food outlets are dotted across this venue, making grabbing a casual bite any time of the day a seamless task!
Many event-profs will be making their way to the Mansion House which is easy to access and sits right in the centre of the venue’s amazing grounds. This building had some absolutely beautiful stylings. The building is genuinely stunning, with incredible old brick workings and a tall cylindrical parapet section of the house on one side. There’s plenty of meeting rooms inside this space that really are as well designed as the exterior. There’s a real house style to this place that sees elegant and classic designs carried throughout the building, perhaps the room where this is most notable is the Library, with books abound in old bookcases, this room somehow still feels fresh and up to date thanks to a boutique feel to the ornaments and furniture that make this a really unique boardroom space. There are large windows that offer great views of nearby reserves - this is a fantastic spot to get some great work done.
Check out this 360 tour: The Mansion House at Edinburgh Zoo
Address: 134 Corstorphine Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh, EH12 6TS
Website: Welcome to Edinburgh Zoo | Edinburgh Zoo
Conference Sales Contact: events.edinburghzoo@compass-group.co.uk
Tel: 0131 314 0336
Email: events.edinburghzoo@compass-group.co.uk
Distance from nearest airport: Edinburgh Airport, 15 minute drive, 2.4 miles
Distance from nearest railway station: Edinburgh Haymarket, 13 minute drive, 2.8 miles
Parking: Onsite, 300 spaces, complimentary
Wi-fi: RZSS Public Wi-Fi can be used across the whole site
The catering facilities here are fantastic - the venue could easily rest on the laurels of being such a unique offering with their unbelievable experiences on offer (see later in this report) but the team here are outstanding and have put together catering options that can serve any event from small private dinners to large scale lectures. There’s a real plethora of options when it comes to feeding hungry and hard-working delegates, such as the bowl food experience, the Finger Buffet food and a full-on Drinks, Dinner and Canapes experience. The food on the menu is really hearty, flavoursome and well sourced – Always a plus for us!
Next is the unmissable offerings that Edinburgh Zoo can provide thanks to their unique status as, well, a zoo! If you want a showstopping experience for your event - this place has them in plenty. Our favourite was the animal handling experience, we won’t spoil it, but this event works on being able to hold and interact with animals of increasing size, it’s super engaging and a ton of laughs! If you’re looking for something more mellow and corporate feeling, the talks that the team offer here, on specific animals, are fantastic, and really provide unique insights into the kinds of enclosures on display here!
Meeting Space Highlight: Budongo Lecture Theatre
Location: Located in the zoo’s grounds, the Budongo Lecture Theatre is a is a free standing, and fantastically designed building – the lecture theatre comes complete with bleachers seats which can be rolled away and stacked at the rear.
This space’s main draw however is being able to see the chimpanzees interacting together through the huge floor to ceiling windows at the front of the room. We also loved the versatile choice that allowed the window to be covered if the animal activity is ever too distracting for your meeting. The room is soundproof and comes with AV equipment too. This is the kind of meeting space you can’t find anywhere else. Wow!
Best use for room: Conference, lecture, talk.
Natural light: Yes
Reception: 250
Theatre: 170
Cabaret: 80
Classroom: 60
AV Equipment included: Screen, projector, flip charts, etc.
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Meeting Space Highlight: Gillespie & Geddes
Inside the gorgeous Mansion house hub, this space consists of two rooms that can be used as one or divided into two. The space has beautiful windows with lovely oak wood detailing that doesn’t darken or date the space one bit. We loved the versatility of this space that meant you could break it up into a work area and reception, or dining in one room. Whatever your heart desires, or event requires!
Location: On the ground floor of the Mansion House
Best use for room: Small conference, exhibition, gala
Natural light: Yes
Reception: together 120
Theatre: Gillespie: 90 Geddes: 40
Cabaret: together 90
Dinner: together: 100
Classroom: Gillespie: 30 Geddes: 20
AV Equipment included: Flat screen TV, flip charts, etc
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Meeting Space Highlight: Macmillan
Our favourite room in the venue – what a gorgeous space this is that yet again offers something new and exciting. With crisp white walls and brand-new floor, this room feels glorious and elegant with just a fantastic feel to the space. The standout offering from this space is still yet to come however, with its huge windows allowing gorgeous views of the rolling hills and beautiful wildlife of the vast park that the zoo is home to. Another showstopper
Location: 1st floor, mansion House
Best use for room (conference, dinner, reception. Etc): Small conference, dinner, drinks reception
Natural light: Yes
Size: Sq.M
Reception: 100
Theatre: 90
Cabaret: 40
Boardroom: 30
AV Equipment included: Flat screen TV, flip charts, etc.
Check out these 360 tours of some of the key space here:
The Gannet
Grasslands Restaurant
Zoo Lecture Theatre
Macmillan Suite Ceremony Setup
Mansion House Empty
Summary
If you want a venue that will genuinely wow clients - and provide experiences that genuinely can’t be found elsewhere, this is the place to go. One of our favourite things about this venue is the flexibility, the breadth of options – from the Budongo Lecture Theatre with views of the chimpanzees, right through to boardrooms like the Salvesen room in Mansion House. As we mentioned before however, our pick of the bunch when it came to meeting spaces was the Macmillan room – newly refurbished and breathtaking view of the zoo and beyond – this place is special.