Norton Park Conference Centre takes conferences for up to 120 people, training courses, workshops, board meetings, hybrid meetings and interviews, in a range of rooms from a four-person interview room to a conference suite seated theatre style. The center occupies two historic buildings at 57 Albion Road in Edinburgh, a short way east of the city center.
Seminars and company events
The Conference Suite is the room for a seminar or a full-day conference. It seats 120 people theatre style or 100 in classroom layout, has a large screen and audio equipment, its own toilets and a large vestibule that works for registration, a meet-and-greet or breakout groups. Large events outside working hours can be arranged with extra staffing.
For training the Training Suite takes 45 people theatre style or 24 around a boardroom table, and it is regularly used for courses such as first aid and workshops. The Ross Room and the Napier Room each seat 30 theatre style or 20 boardroom style, and the Ross Room is set up for hybrid meetings with remote participants through ClickShare. Rooms can be hired on weekdays, in the evening and at weekends, so a training program or a board meeting can be fitted around a working week.
The center is run by Norton Park SCIO, a Scottish charitable incorporated organization (charity number SC048639). It reinvests its income in Edinburgh's third sector, and registered charities, public bodies and community groups receive a reduced rate. Any business can book the rooms.
Rooms and capacities
The center lists nine rooms. Besides the four above, the Gordon Room seats 24 theatre style or 12 boardroom, and the Baird Room 24 theatre style or 10 boardroom, a size that suits workshops and group interviews. The Gray Room is a boardroom for 10 with original wood paneling, pews and stone walls. The Inglis Room is a quiet room for four with exposed stone walls from the original church architecture, used for interviews, counselling or clinics, with a portable screen.
Every room has a whiteboard, a flipchart with pens, a large screen, broadband and WiFi, a telephone and an entry phone. A Logitech conference camera, a portable hearing loop and Bluetooth speakers can be added at no extra cost. All rooms except the Gray Room are accessible to wheelchair users; the center asks visitors with access needs to call ahead for that room.
History and setting
Norton Park combines a business hub and a conference center. More than 25 charities and social enterprises rent serviced offices in the buildings, so an event here sits alongside the daily work of Edinburgh's voluntary sector. The main building on Albion Road is a listed former school designed in 1903 by John A. Carfrae, and some rooms keep wood paneling, pews and stone from the church architecture of the site.
Getting there
The address is 57 Albion Road, Edinburgh EH7 5QY, off Easter Road east of the city center. Edinburgh Waverley station is about 2 km away, local buses run along Easter Road and London Road, and Edinburgh Airport is linked to the city center by tram.
