Dundee Arena: Our Vision for a New City-Centre Events Venue

Architectural visualisation of WGA’s vision for the proposed Dundee Arena.

A city-centre opportunity

Major events venues require more than a large auditorium. They must address their site, their audiences, their operators and the wider life of the city.

Our Dundee Arena proposal explored this opportunity through the redevelopment of the Mecca Bingo site in Dundee. The project considered an approximately 10,000-capacity multipurpose auditorium intended for concerts, sporting events and esports.

The proposed Dundee Arena remained an architectural exploration of how a substantial events venue might be introduced within a city-centre setting, rather than a completed building or an approved development.

For WGA, the central question was how the scale and operational requirements of a major venue could be considered alongside the existing urban context. A city-centre location can provide proximity to established routes, businesses, accommodation and other facilities. It also places greater demands on arrival, servicing, movement, noise, scale and neighbouring uses.

These questions are relevant to venues of different sizes. A large arena makes them particularly visible, but the same issues arise when considering a smaller music venue, leisure redevelopment, hotel-led scheme or the future of an existing entertainment building.

Introduction

WGA’s Dundee Arena proposal explored the potential for an approximately 10,000-capacity multipurpose auditorium on the Mecca Bingo site in Dundee.

WGA’s proposal was intended to accommodate concerts, sporting events and esports. It also raised wider questions about city-centre access, audience movement, servicing, event flexibility, inclusive design and development viability.

The proposal did not proceed because the funding gap could not be bridged, despite Dundee City Council expressing interest. We present the project accurately as a proposal that did not proceed, while considering what the experience can offer clients assessing complex leisure sites.

The same questions apply to smaller venues, existing entertainment buildings and mixed-use regeneration opportunities. Early architectural testing can help establish the relationship between a brief, a site and a deliverable development strategy.

A multipurpose auditorium

The proposed Dundee Arena was intended to accommodate different event formats. Its programme included concerts, sporting events and esports.

This range was important. A venue designed for one fixed use may be able to optimise its layout around a single audience, production model and event format. A multipurpose venue must instead consider how the building can support changing requirements without compromising the quality of each event.

Concerts can involve different stage arrangements, audience configurations and production requirements. Sporting events can place greater emphasis on clear sightlines, field or court layouts and audience distribution. Esports can introduce specific requirements around digital infrastructure, screen visibility, broadcast operations and controlled lighting conditions.

The proposal established the intended range of uses. It did not remove the need for detailed operational, technical and commercial testing. These matters require coordinated input from the client, operator, specialist consultants and wider project team.

Architecture provides the framework for these decisions. It does not determine the success of a venue by itself.

Interior visualisation of WGA’s proposed Dundee Arena, showing the auditorium as a flexible events environment.

Scale and urban context

A venue of this scale affects more than the building footprint.

The architectural brief must consider how people approach the building, where they gather, how they enter and how they leave. It must also consider the relationship between public movement and the operational areas required to support events.

Audience routes and service routes need to be understood together. Deliveries, equipment, staff access and event production cannot be treated as secondary matters. They must be integrated into the wider arrangement of the site.

The surrounding city also remains active when no event is taking place. A major venue should therefore be considered as part of its urban setting, not only as a container for activity inside the auditorium.

This raises practical questions:

• How does the building address its principal streets?

• Where are the main arrival points?

• How are queues managed within the site?

• How do accessible routes connect with entrances and facilities?

• How are servicing and public movement separated?

• What is the experience of the building between events?

• How might the proposal sit alongside existing and future uses?

These are design questions rather than assumptions about guaranteed public benefit. The success of any venue depends on further work covering operation, transport, planning, cost, demand and management.

Designing for audiences

The phrase “10,000 capacity” describes a significant scale, but it does not describe the whole audience experience.

The quality of a venue is shaped by the way people find it, enter it, move through it and experience an event. Sightlines, circulation, seating and standing arrangements, acoustics, facilities, wayfinding and accessibility all influence how the building works.

Different audiences may have different expectations. A concert audience may value atmosphere and proximity to the performance. A sporting audience may require clear views across a defined playing area. An esports audience may engage with large digital displays and broadcast-led event formats.

The architectural challenge is to establish a coherent arrangement that can support these differences. It requires early definition of the event programme, not simply the selection of a headline capacity.

Inclusive design is part of this process. The needs of disabled people, families, older audiences, staff, performers and event operators should be considered through appropriate engagement and specialist advice. An architect should not rely on assumptions about how people will use the building.

Architectural visualisation of WGA’s proposed Dundee Arena, showing the hotel element within the wider city-centre proposal.

Architectural visualisation of WGA’s proposed Dundee Arena, showing an entrance and interior view of WGA’s proposal.

A proposal that did not proceed

Dundee City Council expressed interest in the proposal. However, the funding gap could not be bridged and the development did not proceed.

This outcome is part of the project’s factual record. It does not represent a planning approval, a funding commitment or a formal endorsement of the scheme. WGA’s proposal did not proceed to construction.

An architectural proposition, an operating business and a fundable development are related, but they are not interchangeable. A strong design must sit within a wider framework of land, cost, finance, operation, approvals and market conditions.

The experience reinforced the importance of testing these matters in parallel. Capacity, event mix, supporting uses, infrastructure, programme and development scale all influence the viability of a venue. They should be reviewed before a preferred strategy becomes fixed.

The fact that a proposal does not proceed does not remove the value of the design work. It provides a clearer understanding of the questions that complex leisure developments must answer.

Wider relevance for leisure and regeneration

The Dundee Arena proposal was developed at a significant scale, but the architectural questions apply more broadly.

Landowners may be considering the future of an existing bingo hall, cinema, hotel, hospitality building or other leisure property. Developers may be assessing a city-centre site with several possible uses. Operators may need to compare refurbishment, extension, replacement or a new-build option.

In each case, early architectural work can help establish the relationship between the brief and the site.

This may include:

• Testing the capacity and scale of a proposed use

• Reviewing existing buildings and site constraints

• Comparing retention, adaptation, extension and replacement

• Considering public access and servicing

• Establishing relationships with neighbouring uses

• Identifying likely planning and technical questions

• Testing alternative development arrangements

• Supporting coordinated advice on cost and delivery

The purpose is not to confirm a preferred outcome before the evidence is available. It is to create a structured basis for decision-making.

At WGA, our approach combines architectural design with practical consideration of planning, development and the existing built environment. Our Dundee Arena project page records the proposal as part of our leisure portfolio. Our wider projects demonstrate work across retail, residential, commercial, hotel and leisure settings.

Architectural judgement at an early stage

A major venue can influence the character and operation of a city-centre site. That potential must be balanced with the constraints that accompany it.

The Dundee Arena proposal allowed us to explore the relationship between an ambitious events programme and the practical requirements of urban development. It considered how a flexible auditorium might support different audiences and uses, while recognising that architecture forms only one part of the wider development decision.

For clients considering an events venue or complex leisure site, the early brief should be clear about what is known, what remains uncertain and what must be tested. The right questions may lead to a new-build proposal, an adapted existing building, a reduced scale, a mixed-use arrangement or a decision not to proceed.

Each outcome requires considered architectural work.

Have a city-centre site, existing leisure building or early-stage venue idea? Speak to WGA about its architectural potential, constraints and next steps.