Arena site saw real progress made this year

YET another year has passed without gigs at the long-awaited YTL Arena planned on the outskirts of Bristol.

- ALEX SEABROOK

How the YTL Arena could look when complete

But a lot of progress was made with demolition of parts of the hangars finally completed and the construction of the giant music venue ready to begin.Named after the Malaysian billionaire Yeoh Tiong Lay, the arena will be built on the edge of Bristol on the border with South Gloucestershire. Its capacity of 20,000 will place the arena in the top five largest in Europe, the same size as the O2 in London.

Three huge hangars are being converted into the arena. The Brabazon Hangars were home to the Concorde factory, and before that they were where the Brabazon planes were briefly made. Back in October, YTL said the “iconic” Concorde hangar had been stripped back to its original steel frame, while the similarly “iconic” sliding hangar doors have also been removed.