The East Midland’s newest performance venue has hit a major milestone with completion of the steel frame.

North Midlands and Yorkshire Commercial Director, Gus Kedzior and Deputy Leader of Derby City Council, Cllr Nadine Peatfield (pictured with our Site Manager Joshua Bredenkamp) added their signatures to a piece of steel which will be visible in the entrance concourse when the building is open to the public.

After starting on site in June last year and despite the very wet winter, the steel frame and the concrete tiered seating area are already in place.

Gus said: “Today is a great day for all of the project team but also for Derby and the wider community. Completion of the steel frame now means that we can see the shape and size of the venue and in less than a year we will be handing the project over to Derby City Council.”

The finished building will contain 1,200 tonnes of steel.  The heaviest single piece weighs 3.5 tonnes and the longest single span of steel is 12.9 metres.

Built on the site of the former Pink Coconut nightclub, the new venue is set to significantly enhance to the city’s cultural offering.

Boasting a larger and more flexible space than the city centre has had in the past, the venue will complement the activities of Derby Arena – also built by B+K –  to provide the best possible events programme for Derby and the surrounding area.

The venue is set to host over 200 cultural and commercial events each year and expected to attract an additional 250,000 visitors to Derby. It is also expected to create over 200 new local jobs and provide the impetus to kick-start further investment in surrounding areas of the city centre.

The venue will be owned by Derby City Council and leased to and operated by ASM Global, a leading venue management company, whose UK portfolio includes OVO Arena Wembley, AO Arena (Manchester), and Olympia and OVO Hydro (Glasgow).

The scheme is being developed by Leeds-based St James Securities.