Edinburgh International Conference Centre

You can put a 2,000-seat plenary, a separate 1,200-seat tiered auditorium and a 1,185 m² exhibition hall in one building, with your delegates arriving on foot from Haymarket station and tram stop in about five minutes. The EICC sits on Morrison Street in Edinburgh’s Exchange district and has run events since 1995; its own figures count more than 4,700 events and 2.3 million delegates in 30 years. The current calendar includes association congresses such as the 8th International Marine Conservation Congress, 13 to 17 November 2026, alongside comedy and music nights.

Event spaces and capacities

You get room to split a programme across eight suites, 24 individual event rooms and two reception areas, about 8,000 m² of floor in all. The venue quotes a combined total capacity of 5,760, which is the sum of its spaces rather than one room. The Lennox Suite is the largest single space: its moving floor turns a 1,590 m² flat hall into a raked theatre for 2,000, an arena for 1,400 or tiered cabaret for 750, and it divides into three soundproofed halls. The Pentland Suite is a separate raked auditorium for 1,200 whose revolving sections split off the 300-seat Sidlaw and Fintry auditoria, so you can run parallel sessions without resetting. Cromdale Hall, linked to Lennox by a corridor, has underfloor power, water and data for stands, or seats 850 for dinner.

Capacities as published by the venue on its spaces page and each room page, checked 5 November 2026. Blank cells are layouts the venue does not publish. The Lennox Suite theatre figure is raked theatre; the Lennox 3 page lists both 700 and 800 for theatre.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can come from the airport without a car. The venue says Edinburgh Airport is within 10 km; the tram runs from the airport to Haymarket, and the Airlink 100 bus takes about 20 minutes to Haymarket, from where the EICC is a five-minute walk. Haymarket station is under 500 metres away and Waverley is one mile. The EICC offers delegates a 25% discount on LNER trains through its sales team. There is no venue car park: it points drivers to the Sheraton Hotel car park (150 m), Semple Street (300 m) and Castle Terrace NCP (650 m), and Blue Badge holders can park free with no time limit on Morrison Street. For exhibitions, the Loading Bay is off the West Approach Road with a vehicle turntable straight into the Lennox Suite, but it lies inside Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone, in force since 1 June 2024, so check your contractors’ vehicles. Deliveries are accepted from one working day before the build day, and on-site storage is limited.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You deal with one team from enquiry to event day. A sales manager hands you to a dedicated event planner, who coordinates the in-house technical production and catering teams and your outside suppliers. Catering is in-house: EICC Nourish, which took over from Leith’s in 2025, holds exclusive rights to food and drink in the building, including exhibition stand orders. The Lennox Suite has 30 one-tonne rigging points and a lighting gantry. There are no bedrooms on site; the venue says Edinburgh has more than 20,000 visitor beds, over half within 2 km. On access, both entrances have automatic doors, every floor is served by lift, and the Pentland Auditorium has an induction loop and six wheelchair spaces. The venue reports zero waste to landfill, a 60% carbon cut since 2013 and a Green Meetings Gold Award from Green Tourism, and its awards page lists a BREEAM Very Good rating.

What to ask before you book

• If you need the Lennox Suite as a raked plenary and later as a dinner hall, how long does the moving floor take to change mode, and can it happen overnight?
• Which Lennox 3 theatre figure, 700 or 800, applies to your stage and screen layout?
• Can the Pentland Suite and the full Lennox Suite run at once, and which foyers and catering points would each audience share?
• Will your stand builders’ and caterers’ vehicles meet the Low Emission Zone rules for the Loading Bay, and where can large cases go given the limited storage?
• What does EICC Nourish charge for exhibitor stand catering, and can you bring in a sponsor’s own food or drink given its exclusive rights?
• Does an event impact report come with your booking, and what does it measure?

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Edinburgh
• Conference and exhibition venues
• Edinburgh Corn Exchange
• John McIntyre Conference Centre
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Murrayfield Stadium
• Surgeons Quarter
• Scottish Event Campus, Glasgow
• In Conference, delegate management in Edinburgh and Glasgow
• Choose the venue around the event, not the headline capacity
• Turn venue accessibility claims into a usable event plan
• Association congresses are won by host teams, not venues alone

Sources: EICC home page, the venue and room pages, bus, train and tram, plane, car, taxi and bike, disability access, deliveries and storage, exhibition services, our services, facts and figures, sustainability, awards and accreditations and Green Tourism award release, checked 5 November 2026.