Team Building Events

Team Building Events in the UK: A Planning Guide for Managers and HR

Team building gets a bad reputation, mostly because a lot of people have sat through a bad one. Forced trust falls, an away day that’s really just a meeting in a different room, an activity nobody asked for. Done properly though, it’s one of the few things that actually shifts how a team works together, not just how they feel about a Tuesday afternoon.

This guide covers how to plan one that people don’t dread, from working out what you’re actually trying to achieve to picking a venue that fits your team and budget.

Start with the “why”

Before looking at venues or activities, it’s worth being honest about what the day is for. A team that’s just been through a restructure needs something different from a team that gets on fine but rarely works cross-departmentally. Are you trying to build trust after a difficult year? Get two teams that don’t normally interact working together? Just give people a day off from their desks that doesn’t feel like a day off?

Skipping this step is how you end up with an activity that’s fun but achieves nothing, or worse, one that’s neither fun nor useful.

Indoor vs outdoor

Outdoor activities — things like orienteering, obstacle courses, outdoor cooking challenges — tend to work well for teams that get on already and want something physical and a bit different. The obvious downside is the British weather, so always have an indoor backup, and be realistic about which of your colleagues will actually enjoy a wet Tuesday in a field.

Indoor options — escape rooms, problem-solving challenges, cooking competitions, quiz formats — are more predictable and usually more inclusive of different fitness levels and preferences. They’re also generally easier to run for larger groups, since you’re not relying on outdoor space or good weather.

Neither is inherently better. A sales team that’s competitive and active might love an outdoor challenge day. A more mixed, less physically inclined team might get more out of an indoor problem-solving format where everyone can contribute.

Team building for remote and hybrid teams

This is where a lot of companies get stuck, because the usual answer — “everyone comes into the office” — doesn’t always work when your team is spread across the country or used to working from home most days.

A few things that tend to work:

• Pick a central, easy-to-reach location rather than defaulting to head office, especially if most of the team doesn’t normally commute there
• Build in proper unstructured time, not just back-to-back activities — some of the actual bonding happens over lunch, not during the “icebreaker”
• Keep the structured part of the day to a manageable length; a team that’s not used to a full day together in person can find it more tiring than expected
• Follow up with something small afterwards (a shared photo, a group chat thread) so the day doesn’t just evaporate the moment everyone logs back off

Budget: what should you expect to pay?

Simple activity days — an escape room, a cooking class, a quiz format — often come in somewhere between £40 and £80 per person, including the activity and food. Full-day outdoor challenge events with catering and transport tend to sit higher, particularly once you factor in a venue outside a major city.

The biggest cost driver, more than the activity itself, is usually the extras: transport for the team, overnight accommodation if it’s a longer event, and any add-ons like professional facilitation or evening entertainment. A straightforward half-day activity close to your usual base is by far the cheapest route in if budget’s tight.

Choosing a venue by team size

Small teams (under 15) have the most flexibility — most activity providers and venues can accommodate a group this size without needing exclusive hire, which keeps costs down.

Mid-sized teams (15 to 50) usually need to start thinking about exclusive use of at least part of a venue, and it’s worth checking a provider can actually run their activity at this scale before booking — some formats work brilliantly for 10 people and fall apart at 40.

Larger teams (50+) need venues built for it, generally with multiple activity zones or the ability to split into smaller groups running in parallel. These need booking well ahead, particularly for anything outdoors or anything involving a specific date in summer or early autumn.

Where to find providers

There’s no shortage of team building companies operating across the UK, from national providers running the same format everywhere to smaller regional operators who know a specific city’s venues well. Location matters here more than people expect — a provider based near where your team actually is will usually know the good, less obvious venues that don’t show up on the first page of a search.

The city-specific guides that follow this one go into more detail on providers and venues by location, so you can match the activity to what’s actually available near your team rather than picking something generic and hoping it travels well.