YTL Arena chief executive Andrew Billingham confirmed that new planning and licensing approval would be required to increase the capacity from a currently agreed 17,500 up to 20,000, but he was \u2018excited\u2019 that tweaks to the design and layout of the arena at its maximum would see the Brabazon building match the O2 in London for capacity.<\/p>\n
The project has been beset by delays<\/a>, with initial predicted completion dates coming and going<\/a>, but the work to convert the huge hangar into one of the country\u2019s biggest indoor venues has reached a \u2018key milestone\u2019, Mr Billingham told Bristol Live on a tour of the inside of the vast building.<\/p>\n That key milestone is that work to strip out all the internal elements of the Brabazon hangar\u2019s former life as a vast aircraft factory, and work to demolish the external added-on office, plant and other buildings is nearly completed.<\/p>\n Once that has happened, work to remove the roof in stages will begin – that will enable the huge cranes to access the area to begin construction of the two-tiered amphitheatre structure.<\/p>\n Bristol Live wasn\u2019t allowed to film the demolition work going on inside the building, but did witness teams of workers ripping down internal structures and walls and stripping back the building to its shell and frame.<\/p>\n The building inside is vast – some 100 yards from north to south and 300 yards east to west. Mr Billingham said he was proud of a decision to leave the concrete floor area, on which every Concorde build at Brabazon was built, in place. On the floor of the vast hangar, that area had been carefully marked out and it will eventually form the standing area for concerts facing a huge stage created within the vast south doors of the building.<\/p>\n A massive backstage area, big enough for the 30-odd trucks most big artists now take on tour with them – and big enough to have its own heliport – will be created, and one of the old clocking-in machines from the days when Bristol workers created aviation history at Brabazon will be restored and put backstage, with artists who appear invited to \u2018clock in\u2019 with the machine before they perform.<\/p>\n The venue has had its critics and concerns – mainly about the length of time it is taking to create, and concerns over whether the transport infrastructure – which the West of England Combined Authority has put an estimated \u00a3100 million of investment into – will be able to handle huge events there<\/a>.<\/p>\n Many people who attend a concert at the YTL Arena will arrive by car – there are large car parks already laid out on the wide Filton Airfield area – but the venue and the associated \u2018new town\u2019 of 6,000 new homes will also have a new train station, which should be finished by the end of next year.<\/p>\n Mr Billingham told Bristol Live it was \u2018critical\u2019 to get transport to the arena right, because otherwise people will have a bad experience and not return.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol arena parking fears in nearby neighbourhoods as extra capacity planned<\/a>READ MORE: The quiet Bristol suburb that will soon have noisy neighbours<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe logistics in terms of transportation is really critical,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is that whole customer experience for us is a primary focus. We have a train station that opens at the back end of 2026, that has now started in terms of construction, that will connect you to Bristol Temple Meads.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have Metrobus coming through the site with three stops, we have park and ride that will be operating, but also we want to encourage that form of green transport to the site as well, so walking and cycling will also have routes to get to the arena,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cTransportation is really important. Our Section 106 in terms of investment in that is paramount. We\u2019re investing a lot of money in terms of making sure that the infrastructure is going to work and is going to be something that makes sure that someone doesn\u2019t come once, they want to come back time and time again,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The increase in capacity has also attracted scrutiny<\/a>. The arena was granted planning permission on the basis that a maximum of 17,500 would attend at its peak. Now, an increase to 20,000 would require new permissions and licences<\/a>. It would also put the YTL Arena in the top five biggest arenas in the Europe.<\/p>\n The O2 – which was built as the Millennium Dome – has a 20,000 capacity, the AO Arena in Manchester has a 21,000 capacity and the recently-opened Co-op Live Arena has a 23,500 capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have planning consent for over 17,000,\u201d said Mr Billingham. \u201cWe wanted a design that pushes best as we could, so we have made sure we\u2019ve maximised every seating opportunity. We\u2019ve made sure we\u2019ve maximised the size of the floor when there\u2019s a standing event, and that\u2019s what has got us up to the 20,000 capacity.<\/p>\n READ MORE: YTL Bristol arena will need new planning permission admit developers<\/a>READ MORE: New Bristol arena boss responds to parking concerns at venue<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI want to be attracting the biggest events here, so from a capacity point of view it\u2019s important that we are at the top, because that will mean we can attract the promoters and those artists. I\u2019m really excited that we have got to 20,000,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The latest predicted opening date is now the autumn of 2028 – still more than three years off. Last year, the predicted opening date was 2027, but Mr Billingham said as work progresses, the prediction of the opening date is becoming more clearer.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, we\u2019ve got a date of September or October 2028, that\u2019s what we\u2019re pushing towards in terms of opening,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing everything in our powers – we want this open as soon as we can.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a key milestone for us, the hangars are 80 years old so the whole demolition, dismantling, removing the skin of the building and getting ready for construction is a key part, to make sure we know how the building reacts.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get through this phase, we\u2019ll move on to the next phase of construction, which we\u2019re targeting towards the end of the year, early next year, to be ready for the end of 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be amazing when it\u2019s finished. I\u2019ve been on this project for close to eight years now, and it\u2019s an absolutely incredible project. Of all the arenas I\u2019ve seen across the country and across the world, this will be one of those that is going to be absolutely up there,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The transformation of the vast Brabazon Hangar to one of Europe’s biggest indoor venues has reached a ‘key…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,10965,10648,748,393,10300,4884,50608,12717,39178,16,15,100957],"class_list":{"0":"post-287047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-arena","10":"tag-bristol-live","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-filton","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-north-bristol","16":"tag-planning","17":"tag-the-co-operative","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-ytl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114906433492407670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_TCBR230725ArenaBRIJPG.jpg\")
Inside the YTL Arena as demolition reaches a ‘key milestone'(Image: YTL)<\/p>\n![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_TCBR230725ArenaBRI_03jpeg.jpg\")
Inside the YTL Arena as demolition reaches a ‘key milestone’ – YTL Arena chief executive Andrew Billingham(Image: Bristol Post)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_TCBR230725ArenaBRI_05JPG.jpg\")
The YTL Arena as demolition reaches a ‘key milestone'(Image: YTL)<\/p>\n