OCTOBER 2018 – updated November 2019

Just to the north of Milton Keynes centre, close to the railway station and only 10 minutes from the M1.

A team building venue for up to 50, which offers four well equipped training/meeting rooms. Fire Safety and First Aid Training courses available, with catering available for all events.

Because this venue is so different. Twelve real-life safety settings each offer a unique backdrop for innovative team building activities. In addition, good value “educational styled” classrooms and training areas with the ability to book from just one hour – and you’ll be supporting a charity!

It’s not often that meetingsclub recommends a venue with an unmistakeable smell, but there’s always exceptions to every rule.

Dark Alley is the specific area to avoid if you were wondering, one of 12 safety areas housed in a warehouse styled building that was the first ever purpose-built interactive education centre for children.

These days the doors are wide open for team building events, as a venue for training courses or simply a cost-effective location to hold a small meeting. Welcome to the Safety Centre (AKA Hazard Alley) in Milton Keynes.

Unique is a much over used word but the Safety Centre really is. Wander down a busy street, dodge a massive truck, head in to a house with smoke rising from underneath a door. Walk around a pond with a drowning person shouting for help. And then there is the famous ‘dark alley’, a dark, dingy, smelly place with syringes and shady characters behind every turn.

All of these safety training areas can be used as part of a series of team building exercises developed by the inhouse team. Delegates are immersed in another world, a creative background for a series of memorable “games” from crossing a river using cane and velcro to building a (toy) car in 15 seconds blindfolded. Leadership, communication and leadership skills put to the test.

But team building is just one use of the safety centre. The four training and conference rooms, can be used independently for any small meeting or training session for any organisation. And if you need to run statutory training for First Aid or Fire Drills, what better place than the Safety Centre with their professional training instructors.

Whilst the Safety Centre is often used by local schools, the good news is that availability for facility/meeting room hiring is all year and not just during school holidays. Your technical budget should be safe as many of the rooms are well equipped with projectors, screens and whiteboards. Catering can be arranged, typically a simple sandwich lunch and delegates will have no problem parking for free in the adjacent car park. Last but not least, the venue is developing Mental Health First Aid Courses a topical reminder of this important area of employee support.

The Safety Centre is a “working” centre with very much an educational feel, witness the fantastic letters from local children who have attended safety sessions here and the “classroom” feel to many of the meeting rooms. It is not an all singing and dancing corporate venue with shiny walls, the smell of ground coffee beans and delicious catering. Instead think amazing creative backdrop, functional rooms, passionate people who care and a charitable venue which offers genuine value for money

Milton Keynes is a really accessible place even with all the roundabouts! Regular fast trains to London and Birmingham and the proximity to the M1 make the Centre an ideal away day location for organisations from across the Midlands and south-east.

Current clients include academic institutions, retail outlets, local businesses and construction firms – a real mix.

There are also many unique (there’s that word again) sponsorship opportunities to consider. If you are an estate agent, why not proudly display your For Sale outside the houses on the main street? Or brand your construction company logo on the back of the luminous yellow tabards? There is even the possibility of providing cleaning and air freshness items for ‘Dark Alley’.

Not your normal venue, but one that is quirky and offers cost effective team building/meeting room options. If you want to find out more, then click on the below link and see for yourself what the Safety Centre can do for you…