YTL ARENA BRISTOL, BRISTOL, UK
The green light has been given for
a project in Bristol, UK, that will
repurpose the historic Brabazon
Hangars (where the Concorde
airplane was born and built) to
create a year-round entertainment
and exhibition destination by 2023.
The project consists of converting
the vast hangars to create three
individual, but interconnected,
spaces with the central hangar
being home to the UK’s third largest
arena with a 17,080 capacity for
live music. Its east hangar will take
advantage of the large flat floor to
host exhibitions and events, and the
west hangar will become a large
space offering food and drink.
A new neighborhood will be
built as part of the plans, however,
to ensure that music events do not
disturb residents the venue will use
sound isolating materials to prevent
noise leak. The construction of
the main arena is designed to act
as a ‘box within a box’ with sound
insulation installed in the roof and
façade fabric of the hangars. Inside,
the walls and ceiling will be lined
with sound absorbing materials,
while the seats are to be designed
to further reduce reverberation and
minimize the change in acoustics
between occupied and unoccupied
arena conditions.
Sustainability is also key focus
of the plans and the construction
will employ adaptive reuse
methods, which reuses and adapts
the existing structure, as opposed
to demolition. For any areas of new
construction, it will source locally
the materials required. In addition,
it will employ low carbon energy
sources, rainwater harvesting,
recycling, electrical selfgeneration,
neutral impact on local
air quality, and water efficiency.
YTL Utilities is the company
behind the scheme, which bought
the Filton Airfield site back in 2015.
The construction will be a privately
funded project with no public
money involved. Included in the
plans is the creation of transport
connections to the complex,
including a new railway station
and the building of a superhighway
connecting the Brabazon site to all
surrounding neighborhoods. n
www.stadia-magazine.com March 2020 11
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