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10,000-seat arena aims to rock West

A PROPOSED concert arena at the new Royal Highland Showground is being billed as a long-awaited rival to Glasgow’s SECC.

Showground bosses hope the “Edinburgh Arena” will draw big-name pop and rock concerts away from the west coast.

The 10,000-seat arena is part of a 275 million “campus” of facilities planned for Norton Park, opposite today’s showground.

The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has appointed a firm to conduct a pre-construction study of the site to give a predicted cost and timescale for the project.

The Showground is having to move by 2013 to make way for a 1 billion expansion of Edinburgh Airport.

The society fought the proposal at first but, after a feasibility study, agreed to move - if adequate compensation is forthcoming from airport owner BAA.

Existing facilities at the Royal Highland Centre, including the Highland Hall, Lowland Hall and MacRobert Pavilion, are to be replicated at the new site.

The range of indoor and outdoor facilities would allow the centre to welcome a range of events, such as international conferences, fashion shows, and trade shows.

Indoor sport - tennis, boxing or badminton - would also be considered, while outdoor space could allow for concerts or festivals with crowds of 40,000.

Grant Knight, director of the Royal Highland Centre, said: “Glasgow has carved itself a nice niche in the concerts market and there is no reason we can’t do the same for Edinburgh.”

The RHASS has appointed Mace, part of the consortium delivering the London Olympics, to carry out a pre-construction study. Ross Muir, an RHASS spokesman, added: “The beauty of Norton Park is that it can be indoor and outdoor events, which is unique, so the range is limitless.”

But Pete Irvine, director of Unique Events, warned that there may be difficulties in getting a regular stream of acts to fill a 10,000-seat arena. He said: “It is important how that size of venue works when it’s not full.”

The society is in advanced talks with BAA about funding for the proposed move, and is hoping to reach agreement soon. But if BAA does not agree to pay the full costs of the new site, the RHASS would have to apply to funding bodies or scale down its plans.