Searching for a venue to hold your next team building event in Sydney? Here’s a few tips and suggestions from one of the leading team building activity providers in Australia, Great Race Australia. Having run thousands of team building events all across Australia, you’d be hard-pressed to find a venue we haven’t been to!
Whilst there are many factors to consider the obvious and consistently most important one is BUDGET! You don’t need to spend massive ‘corporate’ dollars to find a great space and thinking outside the (CBD) box can save you quite a bit! Consequently this handful of recommendations are going to be sorted by price range!
Once you have narrowed down some ideas within the budget, we can then move to the important questions relating to your specific needs from the venue – are you meeting/conferencing at the same time? What activity have you got planned? What technical requirements do you require? What food and beverage requirements do you want/need? Do you require accommodation?
BEST CORPORATE TEAM BUILDING VENUES IN SYDNEY – BY BUDGET!
On the cheaper side…
- Harbour View Hotel, right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge in The Rocks. This venue has two private function rooms (Bridge Room and Cap Room) that cater to functions and conferences. Their restaurant menu has recently been updated and their rooftop terrace has one of the best views of any hotel in Sydney. Best part is, it’s all very reasonably priced! We have finished thousands of events at this little hidden gem!
- The Sporting Globe, King St Wharf. Don’t be fooled by this establishment – downstairs in their Centre Court space you have room for 140 seated guests in a purpose built function space. It’s perfect for addresses, award presentations, or in our case an indoor team building activity or wrap up to one of our Amazing Race events. An incredible location and one that typically sits well within budget.
- The Occidental Hotel, York St. So, this is about as budget as it gets, but I think you’ll find real value for money here. Across the road from Wynyard Station, a few floors up is the Occidental’s Glenmore Function Room. Is it modern and pretentious? No, but it is a fantastic space in a prime location that offers one the cheapest venue hires in the Sydney CBD! Look past the slightly dated interior and you have everything you need for an indoor team building venue for peanuts!
- Club York, York St. Much like the Occidental Hotel this isn’t the most up-to-date venue, but, for its location and facilities, value for money is well represented here. The sizeable theatre holds a couple of hundred comfortably seated. Get them in and then leave the rest to us! Our indoor team building events are as entertaining as they are beneficial to your team so the immediate surroundings will be the last thing on your or their minds! We’ve hosted some of the biggest banks in the country in this venue with great success, proving you don’t need to spend tens of thousands on a venue!
Mid-Range Venue…
- Vibe Hotel, Goulburn St. Vibe is a great budget-friendly accommodation chain and their Sydney Hotel on Goulburn St offers fantastic conference rooms at a reasonable price. Location is fantastic, particularly if you are mixing your meeting with one of our Amazing Race style events.
- North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, Bondi Beach. The danger we face every time we run an event at the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Clubs’ function rooms is being upstaged by the views. We’ve placed this venue in the mid-range price bracket as even though it’s not the cheapest in this bracket, it can’t be denied that it offers great value for money considering what you get!
- The Sydney Masonic Centre, Castlereigh St. This imposing building is actually steeped in the history of Sydney. It’s prime central location now boasting a monolithic piece of architecture. Inside are numerous purpose-built function rooms that are perfect for hosting conferences, meetings, and, of course, team building events. The incredible banquet hall is the perfect setting for our ‘FilmFest’ a Short Film Making Team Building Activity, that is followed by its signature Screening Session and Oscars Ceremony.
- The Cruising Yacht Club Of Australia, Rushcutters Bay. The Freya Room at the CYCA has hosted a number of our events. What we love about this venue is actually leaving it…! Meet, mingle, eat here but then join us just outside in Rushcutters Bay Park for an outdoor team building activity like our Survivor Challenge. It’s a simply gorgeous spot to get out, enjoy some sun, have some fun and then get back into nitty gritty!
Higher End Venues…
- Ovolo, What a spot! Ovolo has quite a few function rooms, but there really is something about The Piper Room. The feeling just walking in is so quintessentially ‘Sydney Wharf Industrial’. The smell of the wooden floors, the perfect lighting, it just feels ‘spesh’! Our Game Show Conference Activity lights this room up and it truly is a pleasure to work in this space.
- Pier One Sydney Harbour, The Rocks. The Water @ Pier One – the views, oh the views! This venue is all about looking out onto Sydney Harbour and then trying not to get distracted. This is run by Marriott, so as you would expect comes with a price tag befitting the best location in Sydney. But for those lucky enough to be able to splurge on a location of this calibre you’ll not be disappointed. We’re very fortunate to regularly use this venue as the start and finish location of our Rocks Amazing Race. The Rocks is our favourite location of anywhere in Australia to run an Amazing Race as it’s back alleys, cobble-stone streets, and harbourside location is just the perfect setting.
- Luna Park, Milsons Point. It appears the higher end list of venues all have one thing in common – the Harbour. And, similarly so with Luna Park, its Crystal Palace Ballroom with sweeping Opera House and Harbour Bridge views make it a desirable spot for conferences, meetings and team building activities. Our Luna Park Amazing Race is just so much fun – and for obvious reason! An Amazing Race around a theme park? Brilliant! But we’ve also been fortunate to run a good number of our Charity Team Building Activities here too. Our Build A Bike and WaterWorks programs are only made better by setting them in a location this spectacular.
- Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour. This is definitely up there as a favourite location. We love a great excuse to get over to Cockatoo Island and it’s such a wonderful place on which to run a number of our team building events. We’ve created custom Amazing Race events on the Island itself, and it’s the perfect fit for our Survivor Challenge. FilmFest on Cockatoo Island is also an ideal setting and that’s just to name just a few. Lock in an island getaway without practically leaving the CBD!
