Bristol could get its long-awaited arena by 2016, it was announced today. A future 12,000-seat Bristol Arena would cost between £60-80 million and be built on the former diesel depot site off Bath Road behind Temple Meads. A draft study concludes that “there is stakeholder support, market demand and operator interest for an arena in Bristol”.
The target start date for construction of the arena is autumn 2014, with work estimated to take around 18 months, meaning that Lady Gaga and other acts who at the moment completely bypass Bristol, could be performing in the city by the middle of 2016.
“I am absolutely confident we will have an arena,” said Colin Skellet, chairman of the Local Enterprise Partnership behind the scheme.
The “spatial framework” (not artist’s impression) below gives some idea of how the Enterprise Zone within which the arena will be built could take shape in the years to come:
