Glasgow Science Centre

You can put a conference session on Scotland’s largest cinema screen, then move delegates to a dinner for up to 500 in a glass-walled hall, without leaving one building or paying for parking. Glasgow Science Centre is an educational charity on Pacific Quay, across the Clyde from the SEC, and it hires out its exhibition floors, IMAX cinema, planetarium and meeting rooms when guests can also use more than 300 hands-on exhibits.

Event spaces and capacities

The centre lists 13 hireable spaces. The Atrium on the ground floor is the largest single room for seated events, at 500 m² with up to 500 for a banquet or reception. Floor One, an exhibit floor of 1,750 m², also takes 500 standing. For talks you have the 370-seat IMAX, Tower Gallery South at 200 theatre style and Tower Gallery North at 150. For exhibitions the Atrium holds 38 stands and the Clyde Suite 20, and the Clyde Suite has direct load-in. The venue does not publish a combined exhibition area. Its minimum numbers are 60 for day conferences and 100 for evening events.

Capacities as published by the venue on its spaces page and the individual space pages, checked 5 November 2026. Blank cells are layouts the venue does not publish for that space.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can arrive by train without a taxi: the centre says Exhibition Centre station on the Argyle Line, served from Glasgow Central and Partick, is a 12 to 15 minute walk over Bells Bridge or the Millennium Bridge. Cessnock subway station is 20 to 25 minutes on foot, the riverside walk from the city centre takes about 30 minutes, and buses X19, 90, 23 and 26 stop nearby. Drivers leave the M8 at junction 24, or junction 21 coming from the M77, and follow the brown signs. Event bookings include free parking in the centre’s car park, which also has EV chargers for six cars at once, run through the ScottishPower Recharge app at the normal parking charge. Blue Badge holders park free in a limited number of spaces. The centre does not publish airport travel times.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You deal with one team for food, AV and the room: the centre runs its own catering and AV, assigns an event manager, and includes Wi-Fi and a cloakroom. Its day delegate rate is £45 plus VAT per person for at least 60, covering Tower Gallery South, Tower Gallery North or the Science Show Theatre, three refreshment breaks, a buffet lunch, a projector, sound, microphones and a technician. The IMAX version costs £55 plus VAT for at least 150, with catering in the Atrium and a 4K projector. The autumn and winter dinner package is £58 plus VAT per head for 150 or more guests, or £60 for 100 to 150, with a reception on an exhibit floor, three courses, half a bottle of wine and dancing in the Atrium or Hive until midnight. A bar adds a £300 plus VAT minimum spend, and a private planetarium show starts at £800 plus VAT. The kitchen says it buys from Glasgow, Scottish and UK suppliers and composts Vegware and food waste through a Scottish collection scheme. The centre hosted the COP26 Green Zone in November 2021. There are no bedrooms on site.

For access, the centre says its main entrances are wheelchair accessible, lifts serve the Science Mall and IMAX, and there are wheelchair spaces in the IMAX (4), Science Show Theatre (6) and Planetarium (6). Induction loops cover the IMAX and Science Show Theatre, and a Changing Places toilet is on the ground floor.

What to ask before you book

• The day delegate rate needs at least 60 people and the IMAX rate at least 150. Ask what happens to the price if your numbers fall below those after you sign.
• Tower Gallery South seats 60 classroom style with its stage in place and 90 without. Confirm whether your session needs the stage before you fix the layout.
• Exhibit floors stay part of a public science centre. Ask what time public visitors leave on your date and when you can start setting up an evening reception.
• The Space Zone is sold only as an add-on. Check which main space you must book with it.
• Event parking is free, but EV charging is billed separately through the ScottishPower app. Ask whether chargers can be held for guests who need one.
• The dinner package ends dancing at midnight. Ask whether a later finish is possible and what a cash or paid bar costs above the £300 minimum.

Related on Events Review

• Conference venues in Glasgow
• Unusual event venues
• Conference and exhibition venues
• Scottish Event Campus, across the Clyde from Pacific Quay
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
• Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
• Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde
• Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
• Techniquest, Cardiff
• We The Curious, Bristol
• Choose the venue around the event, not the headline capacity
• Turn venue accessibility claims into a usable event plan
• Glasgow’s new air routes still need checking against your event dates

Sources: Glasgow Science Centre: event hire, event spaces, catering and dinner packages, day delegate rate, IMAX day delegate rate, dinner package autumn/winter, how to get here, parking, visitor accessibility, green meetings and events, checked 5 November 2026.