Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington

About this place

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is a significant conference and event host in the capital, operating one of Wellington's largest portfolios of hireable spaces. The University advertises more than 200 venues available for hire across its Kelburn and Pipitea campuses, ranging from small seminar rooms through to tiered lecture theatres and open concourse areas.

### Kelburn campus

The main Kelburn campus sits on the hillside immediately above the central city, with the principal address on Kelburn Parade. Its scale suits multi-stream academic conferences and professional symposia that need a plenary space plus a cluster of breakout rooms in the same precinct.

Venue types available for hire include:

• Lecture theatres — tiered rooms in a range of capacities. Most are fitted with a data projector, lectern computer, audio amplifier and speakers, and whiteboards as part of the hire.
• Seminar rooms — smaller flat-floor rooms in various sizes, with equipment included in the hire, suited to workshops, training and breakout sessions.
• Foyer and concourse spaces — available for exhibitions, poster sessions, registration desks and conference break-out or catering areas.
• Memorial Theatre — a performance venue located in the Student Union Building at Kelburn, suited to plenaries, ceremonies and staged presentations.

### Pipitea campus

For organisers who need a downtown location rather than a hillside campus, the University's Pipitea campus is in the central business district close to Parliament, the Wellington waterfront and the city's main hotel stock. Rutherford House, which together with the Government Buildings forms the Pipitea campus, houses the business school and gained a modern annexe providing purpose-built teaching spaces. This makes Pipitea the more practical option for executive education, board-style meetings, government-adjacent events and half-day conferences where delegates are walking from CBD accommodation.

### Booking and delegate logistics

Venue hire enquiries are handled through the University's online venue hire form, with the venue hire team advising that enquiries are responded to within five business days. Organisers should allow for this lead time when scoping dates. Because the venues are primarily academic teaching spaces, availability is strongest outside teaching periods — the summer trimester break and mid-year breaks are typically the easiest windows for multi-day conferences.

### Suitability for MICE

The University is best suited to conferences, academic congresses, seminars, training programmes, public lectures and exhibitions rather than gala-style incentive events. The combination of large tiered theatres, a deep supply of adjacent breakout rooms, and circulation space for catering and exhibition covers the core requirements of a mid-to-large academic or professional conference under one operator. Delegates are accommodated off-site: Kelburn is within reach of the city by road and the Pipitea campus is walkable from central Wellington hotels, so both campuses can be paired with CBD Wellington accommodation.

Capacities, room layouts and included equipment vary by venue and should be confirmed directly with the University's venue hire team at the time of enquiry.