Your say / Bristol Arena
‘The arena shows the complexity of decision-making and the simplicity of opposition’
The YTL Arena Bristol is a major success story that shows both the complexity of decision-making and the simplicity of opposition in one place.
The path to get to the place where YTL can now make the substantial investment also exposes the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.
I inherited a plan to build a 10,000-seater arena in the centre of Bristol. The failures in that project quickly became obvious – starting with a spiralling budget to around £165m of taxpayers’ money.
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Clear and irrefutable evidence was presented that all city centre arenas, including those by train stations attracted 70 per cent of travellers arriving by car, always in the rush hour and always adding to congested city centres, always in the worst air quality areas.
The arena was too small to make it on the big circuit. To compete, arenas need to have at least 15,000 seats. The Temple Island operator’s business plan came with a vision to major on shows for audiences of around 4,000; putting Bristol in the third division for events.
Five designs were shortlisted in the competition for a 12,000-capacity Bristol Arena on Arena Island – image: IDOM
Having an arena next to the main train station would have been a security liability. A threat to the arena could easily result in the closure of Temple Meads and a quick evacuation from an arena on an island would be challenging.
Given that alternative use for that land would mean three times the economic output, three times the number of jobs created and twice the business rates revenue to the city, the decision should have been easy and obvious but of course, Bristol still needed a major venue for music and events.
It was the desire to deliver an arena that meant all the risks and bad decisions had been taken to this point – with good intentions.
However, enter YTL to the theatre, with a plan to build a 17,000-seater arena, at their cost and fully at their risk and the picture changed dramatically and instantly.
YTL are taking huge risks – the reason arenas are often built at public cost in the first place is that they don’t deliver huge profits and unforeseen events can drive huge losses.
The reality is that YTL are a global player who want to embed themselves into communities and it is that intent that is a strong determinant in their plans.
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Read more: YTL have paid for flights, a hotel and meals for Rees in last seven months
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Now we are looking at an arena being built at zero cost to Bristol City Council.
The arena is being built in a community where the ambitious housing plans had already meant transport and communications infrastructure were in place.
The housing developments were coming with a train station, roads, a bridge and parking facilities; mostly planned from as far back as 2010 before an arena was even considered, and all of which were perfect for an arena.
Retrofitting the existing Brabazon hangars rather than building an arena from scratch on Temple Island saves 20,000 tonnes of carbon.
That’s because we avoid generating demand for steel and concrete – two of the dirtiest industries on the planet – and we avoid hundreds of lorry journeys to the city centre, Totterdown and Knowle.
When the facts were considered, the decision was actually quite easy and I can only presume the people still arguing for Plan A, the Temple Arena, are doing so for political points, not on the basis of actually managing decisions for the city.
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Read more: ‘YTL arena will be a complex Bristol people can be proud of’
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The arena journey, through planning, agreeing a Section 106 agreement that commits YTL to a further £3m investment and now delivering a world class arena for all of Bristol and beyond, is real delivery.
The test gig that took place at the venue showed that people will come from all corners of the city to attend and the transport plan worked perfectly. And that’s before the train station and the metrobus extensions make it even smoother.
The arena delivery is a perfect example of complexity, difficulty, evidence-led decision making and the value of strong partnerships.
YTL are already in talks with potential arena operators, with a blank canvas to fill inside the hangars – photo: YTL Arena Bristol
Leadership is about nuance and balancing conflicting interests and pressures while still making the right decisions and not being blown by the wind.
It is recognising many things can be true at the same time.
Along with the transformational mass transit; the 9,000 homes we have built, housing 9,000 people and families; tackling the infrastructure challenges of the city’s ancient bridges and walls; the environmental challenge and the need to keep driving jobs and economic recovery; the need to balance the pressures of race and class in an international city with authenticity; complexity is the watchword of leadership.
City leadership is a collaboration, much more nuanced than ten word slogans of opposition.
We can all promise the moon on a stick but, to quote Emmeline Pankhurst: “Deeds not words, was to be our permanent motto.”
Marvin Rees is the mayor of Bristol
Main photo: YTL
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