For Festival Month at TechSPARK, we’ve teamed up with Meet Bristol & Bath. The team has handpicked their top recommendations for venues to complement your tech or digital event.
Bristol and Bath have a wide selection of venues for all manner of events; they’ve put together a list of venues that inspire creativity and all offer something unique for tech events – check out the first installment for spaces in Bristol.
Aerospace Bristol
Home to the last Concorde to ever fly, the Alpha Foxtrot, this venue is steeped in history and promotes innovation. Set within aircraft hangers, Aerospace can host conferences for up to 550 people under the wings of Concorde and also offers a range of smaller and flexible spaces. Bristol Technology Festival has been hosted here, along with many awards dinners.
Brunel’s SS Great Britain
The world’s first luxury cruise liner dating back to 1847, this iconic ship is great for hire after visiting hours for social events and an interactive historic experience. However, for those looking for a more practical and versatile space the ‘off ship’ venue offering is ideal. Surrounding the ship there are several purpose-built event rooms. The Great Eastern Room is the largest seating up to 250 and comes equipped with impressive dual projectors, WiFi and media compatibility.
We The Curious
Bristol’s interactive science museum offers a range of creative space for events. The Rosalind Franklin room located on the top floor comes complete with balconies that offer stunning views of the city and can accommodate up to 480 guests. After hours the museum itself is available for private hire and a drink’s reception within the interactive exhibits makes for a great ice breaker.
It’s also home to the UK’s only 3D Planetarium that offers fulldome technology and comes inclusive of AV. An ideal option for screenings and presentations. We The Curious also manage the surrounding outdoor space in Millennium and Anchor Square, which can be booked stand alone or as part of a bigger event at the venue. They are an educational charity and booking an event here helps them to fulfil their mission to support community groups and school children locally.
Watershed
Watershed is set within a Grade ll-listed, accessible building on Bristol’s Harbourside. The venue has broadcast-quality technical facilities and offers packages for virtual, in person and hybrid events, making it an ideal location for tech events. The experienced in-house technical team are on hand to deliver all aspects of the event including live streaming and recording.
Watershed is known for championing diversity and inclusion, plus booking an event here supports the work they do as a charity. They have a selection of spaces that can be used for meetings and events, including their cinemas, the largest seating up to 200, and their Waterside Suite, a flexible space that can be broken into three separate rooms.
Engineers’ House
Part of MAKE Venues, Engineers’ House has heavily invested in the technology required to host hybrid events. The larger rooms have access to technology enabling you to connect and engage with a virtual audience as well as those in other rooms within the venue. The in-house technicians provide on-the-day support, plus their restaurant offers a really tasty lunch with lots of options.
Propyard
A former warehouse now turned dedicated events space, Propyard is one of Bristol’s newest venues located a very short walk from Bristol Temple Meads rail station. The venue offers a vast and versatile, industrial style space ideal for tech events.
The mix of easily accessible indoor and outdoor space offers the opportunity to get creative and build a bespoke event from scratch. The team here value working with local and independent suppliers such as Jafra, a Palestinian-inspired kitchen based in Old Market.
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol offers a great selection of venues both modern and historic. The Humanities Complex is a standout venue for tech events and is one of their newest facilities, completed in 2020.
The largest room is a 240-seater lecture theatre with ample exhibition space in the foyer, plus additional rooms for breakout space. This is also home to the cinema room, which has been kitted out with high-tech facilities. All lecture theatres have a computer, projection screen, overhead projector, data projector, lectern, visualizer and PA system.
Meet Bristol & Bath are the official Convention Bureau for Bristol, Bath and the surrounding areas. They promote the region to event planners and provide a free venue finding service for meetings and events. Enquiries can be placed at events@meetbristolbath.co.uk.
