BAM Construct has completed the structural cores on the £365m Co-op Live project in Manchester.
Opening in 2023, Co-op Live is a 23,500-capacity arena aiming to bring 100 global acts to the city annually.
Oak View Group, City Football Group and pop artist Harry Styles are backing the venue financially.
BAM started enabling works in early 2021. It has placed around £150m of orders with local suppliers, including 9,000t of steelwork to be provided from a depot in Bolton.
Structural core complete
The contractor has now completed the structural concrete cores. The steel frame is complete to half of the arena bowl, and the precast terracing. BAM is now installing the steel structure to the second half of the bowl. And it is preparing to lift the first of the roof trusses towards the end of October. It will then move onto the interior fit-out.
BAM plans to install prefabricated M&E risers, and main service runs are modularised throughout. It has also redesigned the acoustic roof, and is installing this in prefabricated cassettes, rather than in-situ.
The building will be powered entirely by electricity. It also features a solar-powered roof, rainwater harvesting, heat source technologies, and LED lighting.
The team behind the venue is working with Coldplay’s sustainability consultant, Hope Solutions, to deliver its target of being a net-zero carbon by 2038.
