Seminars and company events
Dynamic Earth can host conferences of up to 300 delegates, dinners for 550 and receptions for 800 across eleven event spaces. The science center and planetarium stands on Holyrood Road in Edinburgh, at the edge of Holyrood Park and below Salisbury Crags.
The Biosphere, with a high arched ceiling and large windows, is the main conference room: it seats 300 theater-style and divides into two rooms, Green and Blue, for parallel sessions. The Ozone, a soundproofed room, serves as a breakout, exhibition or catering area. For small groups, the Salisbury Suite is a self-contained meeting room for 40 theater-style, 24 cabaret or 18 around a boardroom table, and the Hutton Room and the Boardroom each take 16 at a table. The Planetarium seats 100 for a presentation, and the Amphitheatre takes 500 theater-style. An onsite AV team, branding opportunities and colored lighting come with the venue, and parking is free. Dynamic Earth displays Green Meetings Gold and Green Tourism Gold accreditations and is a Living Wage employer, which matters to companies with sustainability criteria.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings take place in the Biosphere, which has a stone-walled turret, high ceilings and large windows, and can hold the ceremony, the wedding breakfast and the evening reception in one room. Weddings take from 60 to 150 guests. An outdoor ceremony is possible, a private terrace is available and a dedicated coordinator follows the couple. For gala dinners, the Stratosphere seats up to 550, a pre-dinner drinks reception can be held in the rainforest, and the Rainforest itself can host an intimate dinner for 30. Evening guests can visit the Earthscape exhibits.
Rooms and capacities
The Stratosphere is the largest room, 572 square meters under a translucent roof with glass walls, for 550 at a banquet or dinner dance and 800 standing. The Biosphere covers 305 square meters, for 300 theater, 180 banquet, 160 cabaret, 140 dinner dance or 220 standing; its Green half takes 180 theater and its Blue half 80. The Ozone, about 158 square meters, takes 70 theater, 80 banquet or 100 standing. The Outdoor Terrace holds 200 for a reception.
Catering
Catering is handled in-house, with an in-house chef and a range of dinner menus for receptions and gala nights. Wedding packages are published for each season as a brochure.
History and setting
Dynamic Earth opened in 1999 as one of the United Kingdom's Millennium projects, in a building by Hopkins Architects with a tented roof. It sits next to the Scottish Parliament at the foot of the Royal Mile, with Salisbury Crags and Holyrood Park rising behind, so guests arriving for an evening event see one of the city's best-known landscapes.
Getting there
Edinburgh Waverley station is about a 15-minute walk, or a short taxi ride. Edinburgh Airport is about 30 to 40 minutes by car, or by tram to the city center and a taxi from there. Parking on site is free for event guests.
