The Venue Melrose Arch hosts conferences, training days, product launches, year-end functions, award evenings and gala dinners for up to 324 guests at round tables or 800 at a cocktail event. It occupies four floors on The High Street in Melrose Arch, a mixed-use precinct in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, and belongs to a group that runs several event venues in the city.
Seminars and company events
Each level can be booked and set up on its own. The ground level and the upper level are each listed for 350 people cinema style, 175 schoolroom style and 180 in a half-moon layout, and the full venue takes 240 in half-moon. Boardroom formats run from a U-shape for 50 on one level to a double U-shape for 130 across the venue. The conference room, a separate space, seats 120 cinema style, 70 schoolroom style or 35 around a U-shape, and suits executive meetings, strategy sessions and training. The group lists networking and cocktail events, media launches and awards evenings among its formats, and its team handles floorplans, supplier coordination and on-the-day management.
Rooms and capacities
The building has a main auditorium with a stage, a mezzanine, the conference room, a dressing room and a cigar lounge. For banquets on 12-seat round tables, the full venue takes 324 guests, the ground level 204, the upper level 120 and the conference room 96. Cocktail capacity reaches 800 across the venue, more than 250 on each main level and 120 in the conference room. Floor plans for each level, the stage and the dressing room are available from the venue.
The production equipment is installed in the building. The main auditorium has a Nexo speaker system with subwoofers, stage monitors, a 7K projector and a motorized screen, and the stage carries its own speakers and amplification. A control room runs a DiGiCo SD11 mixing console, an HDMI matrix switcher and wireless Shure microphones. The lighting rig includes an Avolites console with Robe LED moving lights, profile spots and a hazer. The conference room has its own projector, motorized screen and wireless microphones.
Catering
Catering and bar service come from the venue itself. Published packages cover full-day conference buffets, full-day conference cocktail menus, breakfast served as a buffet, as cocktail bites or plated, and plated meals, and the team adapts menus, seating and decor for each event. The group is linked to the Aduna, Cyra, Nova and Sebule restaurants.
History and setting
The group behind The Venue reports more than 30 years in events and more than 2,500 events across its sites, which include 39 Melrose Boulevard, The Houghton and Morningside in Sandton. The Melrose Arch building is a modern structure inside a precinct of offices, shops, restaurants and hotels, so delegates can stay and eat within walking distance. There are no bedrooms in the venue itself.
Getting there
The address is 17 The High Street, Melrose Arch. The precinct lies off the M1 motorway between Rosebank and Sandton, and O.R. Tambo International Airport is the nearest international airport. The venue recommends a site visit before confirming a booking, and large events and year-end functions are best booked early.
