Guide for event bookings

1. Academic-use (the event is charitable and in line with the purposes of the College)
2. Registered Queen’s Clubs and Societies
3. A Queen’s member can book the Shulman Auditorium for a University Club or Society* a hire fee applies

*University clubs or societies cannot book a dinner or event in College.

If your club or society is not registered, you can submit your constitution to the Dean at the beginning of the academic year.

Bookings for teaching and College meetings between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm are booked through the College Office.

The Conference Office coordinates bookings for Junior Members.

These may be simple meetings as well as bookings that have:

1. Food/drink
2. AV/equipment
3. Speaker/speakers
4. Non-Queen’s attendees
5. Any other elements for a larger or more complex booking or event
6. A requirement to coordinate with other departments and authorities for permissions

The Lodge administers booking of the Guest Rooms.

1. For Teaching Rooms it is the College Office: college.office@queens.ox.ac.uk 
2. For Meetings and Event bookings it is the Conference Office: conferences@queens.ox.ac.uk
3. For Guest Rooms  it is the Lodge: lodge@queens.ox.ac.uk

Facilities are categorised into:

1. Lecture rooms and teaching spaces
2. Function rooms
3. Other

Lecture Rooms

No food and drink is permitted in the Lecture rooms.

These rooms are used for teaching from 7 am – 7 pm (although some student event bookings can begin from 5 pm).

You can book a simple academic meetings between students  – please allow three working days’ notice.

• Lecture Room A
• Lecture Room B
• Lecture Room C
• Small Teaching Room
• Shulman Auditorium
• Carrodus Quad Lecture Room

Function Rooms (SCR Rooms)

Food and drink may be consumed in these spaces.

A Senior Member needs to be present for the duration of the booking.

Governing Body permission is needed for the Hall and Fellows’ Garden (via Domus Committee in weeks 0 or 6).

• Hall
• Magrath Room
• New Dining Room
• Memorial Room
• Fellows’ Garden

Event dinners can be booked on a Tuesday or Thursday. These are the only days per week which are available, so expect limited availability as both Junior and Senior Members can request bookings.

Types of event dinners include constituted College club and society dinners, subject dinners, and schools dinners.

Dinners can take place in either the Magrath Room, New Dining Room, or Hall. One dinner can take place in the New Dining Room or in the Magrath Room, alongside a smaller dinner in Hall for up to 30 people.

If booking the Magrath Room or New Dining Room, dinner is served at the same time as High Table, which is 7.15 pm, with pre-dinner drinks at 6.45 pm.

If booking the Hall, dinner is also served at 7.15 pm (as part of Formal Hall), with pre-dinner drinks served at 6.45 pm in the Old Taberdars’ Room or in the Magrath/Old Lodgings Foyer (an SCR member needs to be in attendance if the latter). This isn’t suitable if you have a speaker at dinner, in which case you can ask to book a later slot at 8.15pm.

Unfortunately the Catering Team cannot easily provide a lunch alongside the Hall lunch for students and staff and New Dining Room lunch for the SCR, as well as College meetings which may book an informal/self-service lunch in the Magrath Room.

Tea and coffee is served for College meetings and academic events during the morning. This is usually self-service in hot flasks.

There is the cafe service in the Hall during the afternoon and if afternoon refreshments are required for a meeting, the Conference Office will take advice from the Buttery Team.

Members of College can provide their own dry sealed food items, such as biscuits and crisps for afternoon meetings/ drinks receptions if desired. All drinks must be booked/ purchased through the Buttery.

Summary

Lunches cannot easily be booked (only self-serve for College meetings).

Afternoon tea/coffee/refreshments cannot easily be booked.

Dry sealed snacks can be brought in for meetings if desired

Food and drink may be consumed in these spaces.

All drinks must be purchased through the Buttery.

Drinks can be delivered to the booked room for you to serve yourself providing there are fewer than 20 attendees.

Drinks can be served for bookings of over 20 attendees for a maximum of one hour and at a fee of £20. Availability of this service and timing is dependent on the other meals/events being served.

A Senior Member is not needed unless the booking is for a non-Queen’s society/club.

Governing Body permission is not needed.

• • Old Taberdars’ Room
  • Shulman Auditorium Foyer

Speaker events must be booked at least four weeks in advance, to allow enough time for the permissions process.
All speaker event requests are sent to the Decanal Team for permission, and this includes members of College who may be speaking, as well as external speakers.
You must include the speaker’s name and details of the content/nature of the talk.

1. Licensing Laws – All alcohol must be purchased through the College Beer Cellar/Buttery and cannot be sold unless the College Licence Holder is in attendance, the cost of which is to be met by the organisers.
2. For student events, consumption/ quantities of alcohol must be monitored and sufficient other forms of non-alcoholic beverages must be supplied. Any non-catered event where alcohol is served and there are upwards of 20 guests in attendance, will likely require staffing. Other considerations such as time of day and length of event will be considered in conjunction with the Decanal Office. Staffing will be charged at £20 per hour, per staff member.

Summary

• Purchase through the College
• Extra considerations may be needed

Other bookable spaces:

• Piano in Chapel
• Back Quad Music Practice Room
• Carrodus Quad Music Practice Room
• Squash Courts
• Cricket Grounds and Pavilion
• Beer Cellar
• New Library Multi-Purpose Room
• Chapel

The Lodge books the piano in Chapel.

For Music Practice:
Students are eligible to book the facilities once they have been approved by the College Organist, Prof Owen Rees.

To book the Cricket Grounds and Pavilion, you need permission of the Senior Treasurer of the Amalgamated Sports Club and these are both booked through the Groundsman, with coordination from the Domestic Bursar. Large events will need Domus & Governing Body permission.

The Library staff handle bookings for the Multi-Purpose Room.

The Beer Cellar requires oversight from the Steward and the Conference Office.

The Chapel – please see next section below.

Internal bookings (use of the Chapel by the College itself, or by a College society) including:

• Concerts by the college Choir
• EMS bookings
• Lent Concerts
• Events arranged by senior members as part of their academic work
• Recitals by undergraduates in Music (as these contribute to their academic work)
• Free performances by members of the College, which could be organised under the aegis of the EMS

Internal bookings do not need Domus Committee and Governing Body permission, and are subject only to approval from the Chaplain, Director of Music, and Domestic Bursar.

Bookings by members of College (or the choir).  Members of the College may book a concert or other cultural event for a group or ensemble which is not a Queen’s society. If the event falls under the College’s charitable purpose and objects then a reduced hire fee will apply; if the event is commercial (e.g. involves ticket sales) then the usual hire price will apply.

If a member of College (or the choir) holds a private concert and sells tickets commercially, the full price will apply. Both cases will need Domus Committee permission and need oversight from the Domestic Bursar.

Societies and members of College should complete the Chapel Booking Form.

Summary

• Internal bookings are free and do not require Governing Body permission.
• Bookings by members of College for a group/ensemble which is non-Queen’s will need more consideration and may need further permission from Governing Body. The hire fee may be a reduced fee.
• All bookings need permission in the first instance from Chaplain, Director of Music, and Domestic Bursar.

Complete one of the following online booking forms:

1. Room booking: Event Request Form
2. Dinner: Event Request Form

Or Chapel Booking Form

A member of the Conference Office will respond as soon as they can. We ask for three working days’ notice for a simple booking, two weeks’ notice for a dinner, and four weeks’ notice for a more complex event.

We may need to take the following action before being able to confirm the booking with you:

• Coordinate with the Steward/Lodge/Catering/Maintenance Teams
• Require guidance from the Decanal Office (for speaker events)
• Ask you to complete a Risk Assessment
• Require guidance from the Domestic Bursar

The following facilities, due to their significance and nature, always require the permission of the Domus Committee and in turn the Governing Body:

• Hall
• Chapel (except internal bookings)
• Upper Library (available for official College events only)
• Fellows’ Garden
• Student events that are more complex
• Filming/photography (unless for the College’s own business)

Applications must be made in good time, send your Event Request Form to the Conference Office at the beginning of the academic year.  We will need up to four weeks’ notice from your first enquiry for these more complex events (including speaker events, plays, concerts etc) and two weeks’ notice for catered events (dinners).

The permission papers are circulated to the Domus Committee in advance so we will send you request forward in -1st week and 5th week respectively for meetings held in 0th and 6th weeks. The Domus Committee forwards its recommendation to the Governing Body (meetings held in 2nd, 5th and 8th weeks of full term).

If your request is sent forward for the -1st week paper, you will hear back after the Governing Body meeting in 2nd week. If you send your request forward for 5th week paper (a 6th week meeting), you will hear after the 8th week Governing Body meeting.

Additional Permissions might be necessary for certain activities or when higher levels of oversight are required, for example:

• The size of event (higher impact – for which the CFO can give guidance)
• A higher risk event (for example, food hygiene or availability of alcohol)
• Supervision requirements based on numbers, or needing Senior Fellow to be present
• Use of specialist equipment or contractors’ involvement
• The event content requires further checks or coordination, such as a speaker requiring security, or Prevent Duty implications, etc.
• There is a financial consideration, such as a student society wishes to re-charge students through battels, or the event should be charged to an organisation
• All official or commercial photography or filming on any College site

The CFO forwards the details of these events to the Domestic Bursar for decision.

If the nature of the event requires a higher level of permission it would be added to the list of permissions to be taken to the Domus Committee and then final approval at the next Governing Body Meeting.

Students should refer to the instructions in the Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedures and Rules and Regulations for additional information.

Students: the Shulman Auditorium attracts a modest charge if booked for a University Societies/Club rather than a College club/society. If you, as a member of College and the organiser, are the president of that University society, the hire fee may be waived: advice should be sought from the CFO. The use of other rooms is free in the majority of cases – check with the CFO.

Additional Charges

• Damages will be charged as follows:

i.                Repairs / making good
ii.               Cleaning or removal of equipment or rubbish left behind will be charged for

• If the Maintenance Team are requested to assist, the event will be charged accordingly, e.g.:

i.                provide/make the set or any props
i.                provide electrical support (PAT/ oversight/ member of staff on duty)
iii.              additional emergency signs/lighting/equipment

Safety, Security and Emergencies

The CFO will consider risks and determine if sufficient safety/security/emergency measures are in place. If required the CFO will ask for further risk assessments from the organiser including appointing designated people to act in the event of a fire, emergency, and/or ensure security of the attendees, the site, or a VIP.

A Risk Assessment will include:

• Fire marshals and emergency evacuation site plan (Appendix D)
• First aiders
• Lighting/ Electricals – in conjunction with the Clerk of Works
• Food Hygiene – where outside contractors are used
• Manual handling – in conjunction with the Steward
• Security – in conjunction with the Lodge
• The costs of H&S provision or equipment hire will be charged to the event

The CFO ensures that all outside contractors are in compliance with H&S regulations and the CFO will advise the organiser of the College’s Contractor Policy:

• Including all information required before engaging a contractor
• Confirmation of liability insurance and other H&S compliance statements the contractor must provide
• Registration with the Lodge and display of Permission to Work badge

If hiring electrical items, the CFO will arrange a meeting with the Clerk of Works. Permission for all electrical work and the use of equipment and power supply is given by the Clerk of Works.

a)      It is the responsibility of the organiser to provide PAT test certification for all electrical equipment being used and method statements from suppliers.

b)      Outdoor events using electrical equipment must have appropriate waterproofing (supply, cabling and equipment).

c)       The College reserves the right to call upon independent electrical contractors to inspect and test any installation and will pass the cost on to the function organiser.

College staff with oversight of the event will discuss arrangements with the organiser, but will have final authority, if the event is to be moved to the wet weather contingency location. This might be the Catering Manager, Lodge Porter, Steward, or Conference Officer.