Location | Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
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Capacity | 8,500 (with standing) 6,450 (all seated) |
Website | |
edinburghparkarena |
Edinburgh Arena, also known as Edinburgh Park Arena, is a proposed indoor arena to be built at the Edinburgh Park business park in the South Gyle area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The venue is planned to have a maximum capacity of around 8,500 people, with mixed seating and standing configurations.
Edinburgh is one of few European capital cities without a large capacity indoor arena.[1]
In December 2019, Lothian Leisure Development and NEC Group published a proposal to build a large capacity music venue and conference space in the city.[2] The location of the original proposal for an 'Edinburgh Arena', which would also include a conference centre, retail and leisure space, a cinema and two hotels, was a 30-acre site in greenbelt land near the Edinburgh City Bypass in Loanhead.[3][4]
On 20 November 2023, Anschutz Entertainment Group submitted a planning application to the City of Edinburgh Council for the construction of an 8,500 capacity music arena on a site in Edinburgh Park.[5][6]
The proposal was approved by Edinburgh council in June 2024, with construction for the arena expected to begin in early 2025 and with a planned opening in 2027. Naming rights for the arena, which will cover 18,500 square metres across three levels and is known as the "Carlton Arena" during the planning stage, will be sold off to a sponsor prior to its opening.[7]
AEG Europe executive vice president Alistair Wood also revealed that it had considered alternative sites in Leith, Meadowbank and one located near to Edinburgh Airport.[8]