Just had a look through what I scribbled down. A bit messy. So some of the snippets might not be 101% accurate. But I‘ve done my best to be as accurate as possible in whatI’ve posted. :-)
In no particular order.
Taxi drop of points. Uber mentioned, but black cabs and other private cabs weren’t mentioned
The capacity of the arena has risen to 24,000+ depending on the act and the configuration of the sets. It was 23,500.
Dakteonics are doing the LED screen around the top of the arena.
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The canal side bar will be open all year round not just on concert and event days.
The arena will be open 3 hours before the concert starts so people can get in early, have drinks, food and relax. OVG don’t want everyone arriving at the same time.
There will be no electronic branding inside the arena bowl when the artists are playing. The artists who they’ve spoken to have specifically asked for that. The corporate boxes will have curtains so any light, TV screens, etc can be blacked out.
There will be an internal acoustic roof. Above that will be the outer roof made up of rectangular cassettes that will be dropped into place. The roof will be sat on bearings that will move 2mills in each direction.
There will be test events once the arena is built.
There will be 120 events in the first year, rising to 150 events in the following years.
OVG will be working with City to cross train staff at the ground so they can also work at the arena if they want to do that.
In the end 1850 piles were sunk into the ground. That was one of the delays.
27,000m3 of concrete.
120,000 m3 of soil excavated.
The facade is 25,000m2.
The arena is 5 stories tall.
10,000 tons of steel.
7 cores.
Bam will do the full fit out.
Due to Covid, Brexit, and the Ukraine war costs across the arena have risen.
There are 14 roof trusses. 108 metres long.
The arena will have the biggest arena standing floor in the UK.
The plan is to not have matches and concerts at same time. If that does happen, there will be speacial measures put into place to deal with the crowds.
You will be able to use an app to order drinks and food at the bars. There will be vending machines selling beer, etc, so you don’t have to queue up. OVG is working with local food companies who will supply the food. Food will range from burgers, hotdogs, pizzas, etc, all the way up to Michelin starred food. They have employed a Michelin starred chef.
The investment in the arena is £365mill. The arena will have a £1.5bill impact on the local area. Didn’t say specifically in what way.
Lots of other snippets that I didn’t have time to scribble down.
Make no mistake take about it, regardless of how the arena looks externally, which has been questioned, it will be the best arena in the UK. Probably in Europe. As for the world, it would have to go some to beat the arenas in America.