February 28 2022

Expanded plans have been aired for a 10,000 capacity waterfront arena in Dundee that would provide a home for live music, e-sports events, conferences and other events.

The vision calls for the Mecca Bingo site on the Nethergate to house the arena with an adjoining temporary car park at Yeaman Shore hosting a 70-room hotel, a significant scaling up of ambition from a 2018 proposal for a 6,375 capacity venue alone.

The adjacent site had planning approved for a co-working space back in 2017 but the project subsequently stalled.

Speaking to The Courier Wilson & Gunn director William Gunn emphasised that the design would be flexible enough to adapt to sell-out audiences headline audiences. He said: “The design has been inspired by Green’s Playhouse, Dundee’s ‘supercinema’ that used to be on the site. It was a cinema, but also a theatre and ballroom over two tiers."

Costed at between £60 and £70m the arena would have a ground floor seating capacity of 3,000, rising to 4,500 when configured as standing room only. Upper tiers would have the capacity for an additional 5,500.

Assisted by Gleeds, Woolgar Hunter and Atelierten the arena has already attracted two potential operators who are said to have noted expressions of interest in operating the venue.

Plans for a competing e-sports site at Slessor Gardens have also been brought forward. 

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