A new theatre and concert venue in town has become more of a reality as the first potential plans have been revealed. 

Swindon Borough Council’s Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to hold a special meeting next Thursday to discuss the possible option for the siting,  design and construction techniques for the new venue.

The agenda listing on the council’s website shows that most of the meeting, and many of the papers available to members of the committee, will be private and confidential, with members of the press and public excluded.

But a proposal for the building, drawn up by specialist entertainment architect Stufish, the company which built the Abba Voyage Arena, gives some detail of where it might be and what it might look like.

(Image: Stufish/SBC) The estimated cost of construction is just under £35m, although it should be noted that like the details of the proposal in the paper to be discussed, this figure is very much a possible option.

A fully worked-up planning application for any new venue is some way off, and many aspects of that may be very different from what will be put to the scrutiny committee next week.

The paper by company Stufish shows the entertainment venue would be built on what is now Swindon Bus Station, off Manchester Road, next to the Tri-Centre building complex. 

The approach for those attending the venue would be from the south of the building, from the direction of Fleming Way across an open plaza, with the stage door and loading dock accessed from Manchester Road.

The proposal says to keep costs down the building would be constructed in a modular fashion.

(Image: Stufish/SBC) Offices, dressing rooms, lavatories and the like would be individual buildings on site, with the auditorium and fly tower built around them later.

Then the outer layer of the building would be put up around that, with a decision yet to be made on how ‘permanent’ those areas are.

Stufish’s proposal says it could be semi-permanent in the way the Abba Voyage arena in East London is: “To make this scheme as close as possible to the target budget and without diminishing the visitors’ experience, the Front of House area could potentially embrace a similar strategy to the Abba Arena -  the majority of the FOH area would be a weather-protected covered area with only the function/group/VIP space and the first-aid room and Changing Places conditioned.

(Image: Stufish/SBC) “The Abba Arena makes use of a canopy to provide shelter from rain and sun instead of providing a fully enclosed, insulated and conditioned space.

"Because this allows lighter and thinner un-insulated constructions, as well as a reduction in heating, ventilation and air conditioning  plant it is likely to be a less expensive strategy instead of providing a fully enclosed front of house lobby.”

It adds: “The construction could be based on a steel frame, with cladding. Exposed steel roof structures could recall the locally important historical GWR Works buildings, with their multi-span steel truss.”

The committee meeting to discuss the plan will start at 6pm on Thursday, October 31.

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