NEW ARENA IN 6 MONTHS, BUILT USING MMC

A £50m arena in Sheffield city centre could be built in six months using off-site prefabrication methods, a top councillor has claimed.

A new 6,500 capacity venue could be quickly erected on Sheffield bus station using new construction practices, according to Councillor Mazher Iqbal. The ambitious project, for a performance, arts and conference venue on the Pond Street site, was revealed in March.

It would host concerts, exhibitions and conferences and could even be a new home for World Snooker after complaints the 980-capacity Crucible is too small to meet demand. A feasibility study is due to end soon, Coun Iqbal said, and he was keen to see it given the green light.

He added: “We are being told there is demand for an arena. Barry Hearn and snooker players want to see bigger crowds than can be accommodated at the Crucible and we’ve been speaking to organisations including the universities about their conferences and events. Using modern methods of construction we understand it could be built in a year or six months.

“The scoping exercise ends soon and we’ll make a decision then, but I’m keen to see it happen, it would generate additional footfall and be great for the city centre.”

It is understood the new venue would answer a need for a conference space bigger than the Octagon at Sheffield University, the City Hall or Ponds Forge sports centre. It would be easily accessible on foot, by train and by car, with a proposed new park and ride near the Veolia incinerator on Bernard Road. Meanwhile, the 14,000-capacity Utilita Arena in Attercliffe could focus on sports such as ice hockey and larger bands.

Sheffield City Council has a ‘Strategic Vision’ to ‘intensify the events calendar’ and increase the number of city centre residents by 20,000 to more than 60,000.

Former Sheffield MP Richard Caborn backs a new arena. He said previously that chairing the unsuccessful bid for Channel 4 in 2018 had ‘opened his eyes’ to the wealth of creative and digital firms in the city. He said: “It told me we have some of the best creative businesses in the country. Now we need something at the centre of all that. It would anchor an area stretching from the Cultural Industries Quarter to Castlegate.”

Sheffield City Council has a ‘Strategic Vision’ to ‘intensify the events calendar’ and increase the number of city centre residents by 20,000 to more than 60,000.

Source: The Star