The iconic Brabazon hangars have been a part of Bristol's heritage since the 1940s.
But almost 70 years since it was first built following the Second World War many Bristolians have probably never stepped foot inside.
Most of us will know of someone - mother, father, grandfather - who would have worked at the hangars in the six decades it was operational.
Built in 1946 for the construction of the Brabazon airliner, the building later became the birthplace of Concorde.
It had been empty since 2009 but could soon be welcoming tens of thousands of visitors at once if plans to transform the hangar into a 17,000-seat arena are approved.
Malaysian investment firm YTL revealed its vision for an arena at the site in Filton last year and has now
YTL has promised to deliver a “world class venue for Bristol” which it says could rival London’s O2 and Birmingham’s NEC in terms of restaurants, concessions, clubs and bars.
Spanning a whopping 26 acres, the three interlinked hangars are one of the largest continuous footprints in Europe and could comfortably fit London’s O2 Arena within its walls.
The 352m-long and 35m-tall building has an enclosed volume of some one million cubic metres divided up into three separate aircraft hangars.
It was originally built to allow for the construction of the Bristol Type 167 Brabazon airliner with each separate hangar home to fabrication, assembly and testing of the aircraft.
Despite the Brabazon Mark I achieving its aim of being the largest civil aeroplane in the world, with a wingspan of 230ft, it never found commercial success.
But that did not mark the end of the building's huge significance to British and Bristol’s aviation history as it was later used to construct Concorde.
Regardless of whether an arena is eventually built within the hangers, they will still form part of the new Brabazon neighbourhood which will see more than 2,500 new homes, schools, a high street and parks built over the coming decade.
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