Plans for a huge multi-million pound events and conference facility next to the Trafford Centre have been given the go ahead.
The proposals by EventCity include a brand new, state-of-the-art 23,700 sq m venue for hosting conferences, exhibitions, gala dinners and meetings with flexibility to allow areas to be divided off with acoustic walls, so multiple events can take place at any one time.
The venue will include updated features, such as a central foyer with breakout space and a reconfigured entrance.
The new facility on the former Soccerdome site will replace the current EventCity venue on Barton Dock Road which, subject to planning, will become the first health and wellbeing resort of its kind in the UK - Therme Manchester - taking up 28 acres of space.
With the doors to the new venue set to open in spring 2021, the current EventCity will remain in operation until then.
Work will commence at the new site immediately, with EventCity and owners Peel L&P entering a new, long-term lease of 25 years.
Neil Lees, acting chief executive at EventCity and deputy chairman of the Peel Group, said: “We’re thrilled to have gained approval so work can commence on the new EventCity.
“The venue will be a fantastic addition to the TraffordCity offering, creating even more reasons for people to visit and experience the ever-evolving area.
“We’re determined to offer only the very best experiences for both clients and visitors and we’re confident the new venue will deliver exactly that, providing the perfect blank-space venue no matter the type, scale or size of your event.”
In a further boost to Trafford, plans were also approved for Peel L&P and Fives Soccer Centre to build a new football centre in TraffordCity.
The new facility will provide the community with eight, FA approved all-weather football pitches and changing rooms on a three-acre site adjacent to the Beyond Ski Centre.
The current football provision in the Soccerdome will continue until the new £2m football facility is completed by Peel L&P in September 2020.
Scott Penman, owner of Fives Soccer Centre, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured full planning consent, not only securing a grass roots football facility in TraffordCity for the long-term, but also allowing us to execute Fives Soccer Centre’s vision for the future of five-a-side football.
“The new Fives Soccer Centre in TraffordCity will be the UK’s first commercial soccer centre to meet the FA guidelines for small-sided pitch construction combined with an industry unique digital experience, two key elements in ensuring a sustainable operating model that will cement its place at the centre of football in Manchester for the next 25 years and beyond.
“We are extremely excited to be able to launch commercial small-sided football into a new modern era, delivering the Soccer Centre of the future to our loyal customers and supporting the development of the grass roots game.”
