3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Edinburgh arena opening and ticket sales dates revealed
The venue, which will span a 200,000 sq ft site in the Edinburgh Park area, is due to be up and running by March 2028.
Tickets for the first show are expected to go on sale in 2027 under the latest timeline for the £80 million project.
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The Herald can reveal that all the funding is in place for the arena, which will built alongside a new 'urban quarter' already taking shape in the Edinburgh Park area.
The new venue, which has been known initially as the Edinburgh Park Arena, will be renamed after the headline commercial sponsor of the complex, which has been predicted to generate more than £520m for the city's economy each year.
AEG has reported 'strong interest' in the naming rights for the arena, which it has predicted will become 'one of the UK's most iconic venues".
First announced in November 2023, the arena is expected to transform Edinburgh's ability to attract some of the world's leading performers throughout the year.
Work on Edinburgh's new indoor concert arena is expected to start in early 2026.
The project, which received the green light from the city council a year ago, is expected to attract around 700,000 visitors a year and create 1300 new jobs once it is up and running.
AEG, which also owns arenas in Berlin, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, Shanghai, Nevada and Los Angeles, has promised to bring 'world-class live music and entertainment' to Edinburgh when the new venue opens.
Edinburgh's new indoor concert arena is expected to open by March 2028. (Image: AEG Europe)
When the project was first announced, the company described Edinburgh as 'one of the best cities in the world for live entertainment".
It is expected to plug the biggest long-term gap in the city's cultural infrastructure.
Music industry decades have long bemoaned the lack of a major indoor arena in or around the Scottish capital.
The biggest year-round concert venues in the city is the 3000-capacity Corn Exchange in the Chesser area, while the Usher Hall can accommodate around 2900 if the seats are removed from its stalls area.
Concerts are occasionally staged at The Playhouse, Scotland's biggest theatre, which has a capacity just over 3000, and the Royal Highland Centre, which can host shows for up to 9000 people in its Highland Hall.
When planning permission for the new arena was approved, AEG said the venue would take around two years to build.
Alistair Wood, executive vice-president of real estate and development at AEG Europe, told The Herald: 'Securing planning permission last year allowed us to move ahead with our plans, from progressing design work to entering discussions with contractors and sub-contractors.
'We have funding in place, and now we're in the procurement phase. Once we have a final design, suppliers and contractors we'll break ground. We hope to begin construction early in 2026.
'We're excited to start the build process as soon as possible so that we can bring world-class acts to Edinburgh. We're hoping that the new arena will open its doors during the first quarter of 2028, with fans able to purchase tickets to the first shows during 2027.
AEG has existing naming rights deals in places for its venues around the world with companies including T-Mobile, Mercedes-Benz, BBVA and Accor.
The company launched a search for backers of its Edinburgh venue within weeks of securing planning permission last summer.
Mr Wood added: 'We've initiated discussions with a range of brands regarding naming rights opportunities. As expected, there's been strong interest in what is set to become one of the UK's most iconic venues.
'While we're still three years away from opening, these conversations mark the early stages of an exciting journey.'
