Swansea Arena
Indoor arena in Swansea, Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swansea Arena (Welsh: Arena Abertawe), called Swansea Building Society Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose indoor arena that can hold up to 3,500 people located in Swansea, Wales. Part of a £135 million regeneration project, construction began in 2019 and the venue opened in March 2022. The arena has a gold-coloured facade and features a wraparound display made of 93,000 LEDs, making it the largest digital facade in the United Kingdom.
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Swansea,
United Kingdom
Arena Abertawe | |
| |
 Interactive map of Swansea Building Society Arena | |
| Address | Oystermouth Road, Swansea, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51.6160°N 3.9424°W |
| Elevation | 7 metres (23 ft) |
| Owner | City and County of Swansea Council |
| Operator | ATG Entertainment |
| Capacity | 3,500 (concerts) 2,196 (theatre) 788 (conference) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | November 2019 |
| Opened | 3 March 2022 |
| Years active | 2022–present |
| Construction cost | £48 million[1] |
| Architect | ACME |
| Project manager | Padstone |
| Structural engineer | Curtins |
| Main contractors | Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd |
| Website | |
| www | |
Phase one of the wider Copr Bay project also included a new gold-painted footbridge over Oystermouth Road which links the arena site to a new apartment complex and the city centre, an adjacent coastal-themed public park with a pavilion-style cafe restaurant and multi-storey car park underneath it, retail units on Cupid Way and a proposed hotel with a rooftop bar sited between the arena and the Swansea LC.
History
In 2015, Swansea Council announced a £135 million project to transform the Swansea Bay area.[2] The project, named Copr Bay, included the construction of an arena designed by architecture firm ACME.[3] Construction began in 2019 with Buckingham Group as the principal contractor.[4] After an eighteen-month search for an operator, Ambassador Theatre Group signed a lease with the city's council to rent the venue for thirty years.[5][6] The construction took longer than expected due to security concerns following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.[7]
The arena opened to the public on 3 March 2022 after the inaugural event, a Royal Blood concert, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] The official opening was attended by the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford.[2] In its first year the venue hosted 240,000 people.[9]
On 28 January 2025, Swansea Building Society announced a five-year naming rights deal with the arena, renaming the venue to Swansea Building Society Arena.[10][11]
Design and architecture
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The arena's exterior is constructed of gold-coloured aluminum panels. The facade has a built-in wraparound display made of 93,000 LED lights, which designers say is the largest in the United Kingdom.[1][12]
The arena's hospitality area was designed to "maximise revenue"[13] and can be quickly transformed for hosting different events.[14] The arena's main auditorium holds 3,500 through a combination of seating and standing configurations and the conference theater has 750 seats. There are also meeting rooms to hire.[15]