Bristol Beacon has confirmed the reopening date of the historic arts venue after five years of construction. The concert hall, which has racked up a bill of £132 million - almost three times the original amount - will be reopening on Thursday, November 30 this year.
The historic music venue, housed in a Grade II-listed Victorian building on Trenchard Street, has been subject to scrutiny in recent weeks after Bristol City Council announced it would have to spend another £25 million to finish the refurbishment. Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees previously defended the project's spiralling costs and acknowledged the situation was not ideal but said the project had to be completed because the alternatives were even worse.
Jason Hunt, Willmott Dixon’s operations manager and leading the project, told BristolLive in January that the first massive increase in costs had been down to the sheer scale of the project itself. He added that subsequent increases were due to the wider issues facing the construction industry, from Covid delays to the rising costs of materials and labour.
