| Echo Arena Liverpool | |
|---|---|
| Former names | ACC Liverpool |
| Location | Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool 16 Monarchs Quay Liverpool L3 4BX England |
| Opened | January 2008 |
| Owner | Liverpool City Council |
| Construction cost | £164 million[1] |
| Architect | Wilkinson Eyre |
| Project Manager | Davis Langdon, An AECOM Company |
| Structural engineer | Buro Happold |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Tenants | |
| Mersey Tigers (BBL) (2008–present) | |
Echo Arena Liverpool is the arena half of ACC (Arena and Convention Centre) Liverpool located on the former King's Dock in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom.[2] The BT Convention Centre forms the other half of the complex. Although Echo Arena itself opened in January 2008, ACC Liverpool as a whole was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their visit to Liverpool on 22 May 2008. The complex's naming rights belong to the Liverpool Echo and the BT Group.
The full ACC Liverpool building, designed by Wilkinson Eyre and Buro Happold, consists of two main elements either side of a central galleria: an arena and a convention centre. The arena has 7,513 permanent seats around three sides of a central floor suitable for indoor sports events. The capacity for 10,000. BT Convention Centre has a 3,725 square metre multipurpose hall on the ground floor, with a 1,350 capacity auditorium and eighteen break out rooms above. It can be possible to use the exhibition hall in conjunction with the arena, giving a total exhibition space of over 7,000 square metres. This unique design being the only one of its kind in Europe.
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In terms of capacity, Echo Arena Liverpool is the eleventh largest arena in the United Kingdom. ACC Liverpool as a whole was designed by Wilkinson Eyre architects.[3] There are six dressing rooms, five team locker rooms and two promoter offices within the arena.[3] Vehicles weighing up to 38 tonnes can gain access to the basement of the arena.[3]
Echo Arena Liverpool is one of the most sustainable venues in Europe, designed to reduce half of its CO2 emissions. Features across the complex control light, temperature and electricity usage and harvest rainwater for toilet flushing, while a crop of turbines on the River Mersey contributes to its electricity supply. Due to this design, Echo Arena has been awarded a string of environmental and architectural accolades. ACC Liverpool, the home to both Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre has a BREEAM rating of 'very good'.[3]
The Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool complex is capable of hosting a whole range of events including music concerts, conventions, sporting events, children's entertainment and more. Since the arena's opening in 2008, it has regularly played host to many of the world's top musical acts. Many world famous artists including Muse, Lady Gaga, Oasis, Nickelback, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Katy Perry, KISS, Rihanna and Beyoncé have performed at Echo Arena, with the latter on three separate occasions in the space of a year. As well as concerts, the arena has also hosted a number of major international events. Since its completion in 2008 Echo Arena has become home to the annual Liverpool Summer Pops Festival. The festival, which until previous years had operated from a huge big top tent, regularly attracts a number of well known popular artists.
On 6 November 2008 the arena hosted the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, whilst on 14 December 2008 it was the venue for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show. On 20 October 2010 the arena hosted the 2010 MOBO Awards, this is only the second time that the awards have been held outside of London. January 2011 saw Echo Arena play host to Famous and Fearless, a reality television game show which was aired live over the period of a week on Channel 4. In July 2011 Echo Arena hosted the X Factor auditions.
Below is an incomplete list of acts who have performed at the Echo Arena since its opening in 2008.
Echo Arena has managed to host numerous sporting events in the limited time it has been open, despite a busy concert schedule. The arena plays host to the Mersey Tigers, Liverpool's only professional basketball team. A number of international sporting events have also been held inside the arena, such as Britain's Davis Cup tie against Poland in September 2009 and the Britain women's handball team's match against Finland in the same month.
The arena also plays host to many regular sporting events such as, Boxing, WWE, British Supercross, Premier League Darts, International Badminton, Basketball, Masters Football and many others. In 2008, Echo Arena hosted the annual Firefighter Games. Echo Arena was also the starting point for the 2010 Liverpool Half Marathon.
The arena has hosted WWE Raw SuperShow on November 7, 2011 and will host WWE SmackDown TV tapings on and November 8, 2011 respectively.
The Arena has played host to a number of boxing events such as the inaugural GB Amateur Boxing Championships in 2010, a WBO Light-Heavyweight title fight between Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverly, on the same bill was James DeGale-Piotr Wilczewski for the European Super-Middleweight title. The Echo Arena also staged Paul Smith's three British Super-Middleweight title fights.
The BT Convention Centre located adjacent to Echo Arena, was opened in April 2008. Boasting to accommodate some of the most modern facilities in Europe and luxury conference rooms with stunning riverside views the convention centre, since its opening has won numerous awards. Most notably the CONFEX Best UK Venue award for the past two years. Among the centre's other awards are Best Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative award and the ‘Most Effective Team’ prize at the Exhibition News awards.
The flexibility of the centre's facilities makes BT Convention Centre a unique setting for conferences. The impressive main auditorium comfortably seats 1350 delegates using two seating drums (unique in England) which revolve, the space is divided into/up to three separate, self-contained spaces of 250 (x2) and 850 seats. The complex also houses 18 break-out rooms containing top-of-the-range technology, with capacities ranging from ten to 500. Each room is equipped with the latest telecommunications and data network, cabling infrastructure, wireless LAN, digital audio visual facilities and acoustic panels on the walls for excellent sound clarity. Banqueting functions and exhibitions are also easily accommodated in the centre's versatile Multi-Purpose Hall (3725m2, with space for 1800 dinner guests). This, combined with the Echo Arena, gives event organisers 7000m2 of exhibition space.
In its first year alone, BT Convention Centre hosted more than 200 events, welcomed 71,000 delegates, and saw conferences and events from the British Council of Shopping Centres Annual Conference to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. BT Convention Centre has also played host to a Labour Party Cabinet meeting in 2009, as well as the annual Trades Union Congress in the same year. The Liberal Democrats also staged their autumn conference in the centre in 2010.
The Wheel of Liverpool is a 60 metres (200 ft) tall observation wheel located next to the Echo Arena which opened February 14, 2010. Contrary to belief, it is not the same wheel that was originally situated in Chavasse Park[4][5]. The wheel is only a temporary addition to the city's list of attractions, and is advertised on the Echo Arena's website as remaining until February 2012.
Direct public transport to Echo Arena is by bus. James Street railway station is a short walk away and is served by the Merseyrail Wirral Line. The station is two stops away from Liverpool Lime Street mainline station.
The arena is situated opposite the portal of the now disused Wapping Tunnel which runs from Edge Hill in the east of the city. There have been calls to reuse the 1.26 miles (2.03 km) tunnel with a station serving the arena and immediate docks on the site of the demolished Park Lane station which was at the end of the tunnel.
In August 2009, the Liverpool Daily Post reported that a new tram-train link from Edge Hill in the east of the city to the Echo Arena at Kings Dock is being considered.[6]
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