University of Aberdeen Conference and Events

You can run a plenary for up to 400, a session where delegates vote from their desks and a dinner for 250 on one Old Aberdeen campus, with one university team handling rooms and catering. The university hires out these Old Aberdeen venues all year apart from the festive season and quotes room hire on request.

Event spaces and capacities

You can keep registration, sessions and refreshments in adjoining rooms. The university names six spaces plus a set of breakout rooms, and Elphinstone Hall is the largest at 400 theatre style. The Linklater Rooms next door work for registration, refreshments or breakouts, and James MacKay Hall beside King’s Auditorium can act as your registration area for events there or in Elphinstone Hall. No floor areas or exhibition space figures are published, although the university lists industry exhibitions among Elphinstone Hall’s uses.

Capacities as published by the university on its pages for Elphinstone Hall, the Linklater Rooms, Chanonry Lodge and wedding venues, checked 4 November 2026. A dash means no figure is published for that layout.

King’s Auditorium gives each delegate a desk with its own microphone, lighting and AV controls, so people can ask to speak or vote and the chair sees results on a panel at the speaker’s desk. Video conferencing is built in, while balcony seats add capacity without desks. The building, a former library from 1870, became a conference centre in 1991, and the university says the Auditorium was used for the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 2002. Elphinstone Hall, built in 1930, has a hammer-beam roof and oak panelling, and the university’s Sachsensymposion 2026 site names it for a conference dinner and ceilidh. Chanonry Lodge and its gardens suit a board dinner for up to 12 or drinks for up to 60.

Getting there and parking

Your delegates can reach the campus from the rail station by bus in about 10 minutes, which matters because weekday parking is not available. The university’s travel guidance also gives a 25 minute walk from the railway and bus stations. First Bus 20 runs from Guild Street, 19 from Broad Street and 1, 1A, 1B and 2 along Union Street and King Street. From Aberdeen Airport the 727 bus runs every 10 minutes to the city centre bus station, and a taxi to the university costs about £25.

The university says there is no parking on its campuses on weekdays and only limited parking at weekends, and it points visitors to public transport and city car parks. Blue Badge holders can park on campus without a permit seven days a week, with the badge clearly displayed.

Catering, AV and accommodation

You can budget food early because the university publishes menu prices. Banqueting costs £45 for two courses or £55 for three, with vegetarian and vegan options. Buffets start at £8.95 a person for the classic menu and £14.95 for the hot menu, and tea or coffee is £1.55 a person. External customers pay VAT on top. Outside caterers are not allowed at any of the venues.

Elphinstone Hall and the Linklater Rooms have a screen, projector and microphone set-ups, with headsets and handheld microphones as extras quoted by the team. The university does not list bedrooms on its conference pages. A 2026 conference site on its domain puts city centre hotels a 10 to 15 minute bus or taxi ride away, and ECVP 2024 offered delegates single en-suite student rooms at Hillhead, a 15 minute walk from the main campus, at £36 a night with continental breakfast.

Access guides from AccessAble are linked for Elphinstone Hall, the Linklater Rooms and King’s Conference Centre.

What to ask before you book

• What is King’s Auditorium’s current capacity at desks and on the balcony? The figures on other pages are 125 and, from 2005, 147 plus the balcony.
• Does Elphinstone Hall’s 400 theatre figure apply to your date and set-up? The wedding page gives a maximum of 250 across layouts.
• How many King’s College Centre breakout rooms can you hold, and what does each seat?
• Can exhibitors get vehicles onto campus on a weekday to set up, given the parking position?
• Which candles are allowed? The venues ban balloons, smoke machines and certain candles.
• Can student rooms be held for your dates, and at what current rate?

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Sources: university venues page, King’s College Centre, King’s Conference Centre campus entry, Elphinstone Hall campus entry, event catering, getting here, checked 4 November 2026.