By Wendy Bryant, Director of Groups, Meetings and Events Radisson Blu Durham
How Radisson Blu Durham is redefining the corporate away day.
As more businesses swap back-to-back agendas for fresh air and headspace, Radisson Blu Durham has built a new kind of meetings experience around wellbeing – pairing firstclass facilities with cathedral tours, riverside walks and a new partnership with Onda Pilates and Raby Castle.
The corporate away day is changing. Where a decade ago success meant a full agenda and a well-stocked coffee station, today’s teams want a break that really feels like one – and Radisson Blu Durham has built a programme to give meetings, conferences and team days a genuine sense of recharge.
“We’re seeing it across almost every booking now,” says Wendy Bryant, Director of Groups, Meetings and Events at the hotel. “Clients don’t just want a room and a projector any more. They want their people to leave feeling better than when they arrived, whether that’s through movement, fresh air or simply a proper break in the day. Wellbeing has gone from a nice-to-have to a key factor.”
It’s a trend the hotel is well placed to answer. Five minutes’ walk from Durham railway station and ten minutes from the A1(M), delegates can be in a full-AV meeting space one hour and climbing Durham Cathedral’s tower the next.
That contrast is central to the new approach. Groups can choose a cathedral tour, a riverside walk along the Wear, or a midday Onda Pilates class, hosted on-site and suited to all fitness levels – or hands-on, tailored team-building activities.
Food plays a part too: the hotel’s Brain Boosting Lunch Menu keeps delegates focused through the afternoon rather than reaching for a heavy buffet, a small detail feedback shows shapes how a day is remembered.
None of this comes at the expense of the fundamentals: meeting spaces for groups of every size, refurbished bedrooms, and Presidential Suites offering a private space for organisers or VIP guests – increasingly requested as companies combine an away day with an overnight stay.
A surprisingly unique addition, though, sits half an hour down the road. Radisson Blu Durham has partnered with Raby Castle to launch the Back to Nature Team Building Experience, swapping the conference room for the deer park.
The package includes dinner, bed and breakfast at the hotel with full access to its leisure facilities, return transport to Raby Castle, exclusive hire of one of the estate’s event spaces, welcome refreshments and a grazing lunch sourced from the Raby Estate – before teams choose clay pigeon shooting or a deer safari. A second night’s accommodation can be added. Packages start from £200 per delegate.
“It’s a genuinely different proposition for the region,” adds Bryant. “You get the reliability of a five-star hotel with proper facilities, and then a completely different environment for the teambuilding element itself. Clay pigeon shooting or a deer safari isn’t something most away days offer, and it gives people something to talk about long after the debrief.”
For a venue with a decade-long reputation for flexibility, the move into wellness-led corporate days feels like a natural next chapter. What’s changed is the emphasis: recharge is no longer an add-on to the agenda, it’s part of it.
Whether you’re planning a corporate away day, a wellness-focused conference or a Back to Nature experience at Raby Castle, the team at Radisson Blu Durham would love to help bring it to life.
www.radissonbludurham.com