The vision for Manchester's new Co-op Live arena has been laid out by the industry giant who helped make the O2 in London what it is today.
The £365m venue is expected to open its doors in just 18 months. The 23,500-seat venue is being built in the shadow of Manchester City's Etihad Stadium and will mark a major moment for the city's entertainment industry.
The long-term plans for Co-op Live were outlined at an exclusive event in the city centre attended by BusinessLive.
READ MORE: Boss of Co-op Live build opens up on Covid and Brexit battles as project prepares for critical phase
The venue, which was given the go-ahead in 2020 and has a 15-year naming rights deal with the Co-op, is still on track to open next December with Manchester's own Harry Styles a firm favourite to take part in the first event in some form.
The former One Direction star is an investor in the project which is being spearheaded by US giant Oak View Group and City Football Group, the company that owns Manchester City.
Styles has also been heavily involved in how the new venue will look including a move to ban all advertising within the stadium 'bowl' to that fans' attention won't be pulled away from the act on stage.
Speaking at the event at Co-op Live's Manchester city centre offices on Tuesday, OVG chief executive Tim Leiweke remained tight lipped about whether Styles would be headlining the much anticipated first event but that the singer was keen to take part in some form.
Co-op Live is expected to start announcing the first shows in September, with tickets going on take in the autumn.
Mr Leiweke, who helped transform the O2 into what it is today, also revealed that Co-op Live would cost £500m if it was being priced today, higher than the current £365m budget.
He told BusinessLive that the financing had been set aside at the start of the project and a 28-year debt deal already agreed.
That, and decisions such as sourcing as many materials and labour from the local area has possible, has also helped the target opening date of December 2023 remain a constraint throughout the build process.
As well as the potential for accommodating flying taxis in the future, the bosses at Co-op Live and OVG are certainly keen to emphasis the project's green credentials.
It has a target to be net carbon neutral by 2038, be a 100% electric building, have almost 9,000 sqm of solar panels and produce no food waste.
It also aims to have no single use plastic on site, send no waste to landfill and use all the rainwater it collects.
The impact on the environment is a major plus point of the whole project and one that bosses will be hoping will help entice the largest acts from across the world to choose Co-op Live other other rival venues.
They will be hoping that most environmentally-conscious acts such as Coldplay will pick Co-op Live because of its green credentials instead of looking at other venues in the city.
When it opens, Manchester will get its second indoor arena but the marketplace is already a crowded one as gigs can be staged at the likes of Emirates Old Trafford and Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium.
But the biggest competitor is sure to be the AO Arena which will be almost 30 years old by the time Co-op Live opens its doors.
In an attempt to respond to its new competition, the arena announced a £50m revamp from this summer that will see the venue undergo a complete 're-imagination'.
But Mr Leiweke, who used to work for the company that owned the AO Arena, said Co-op Live's success was not dependent on its nearest rival's failure.
"I would not want to compete against us and if I were them I would lose sleep over us but I do not wish them anything else but the best.
"Co-op Live will be one of the top five arenas in the world for music."
Mr Leiweke also hailed Co-op Live as an "economic catalyst", not just for the areas around the arena but for the city as a whole.
Bosses have said the venue will generate £1.5bn for the local economy, create 3,500 construction jobs during the build and a further 1,000 jobs and apprenticeships when it opens.
As part of its pledge to give £1m to national and local good causes every year, a portion will be reserved to help Manchester's music scene.
Those figures will be supported by an expected 120 events a year at the start which could be raised up to 200 in the following years.
About 80% of the events will be music but bosses hinted that bids could be submitted to host NBA, tennis or boxing matches as well as a range of family-friendly acts.
While no tickets have yet gone on sale to the general public, those with the financial muscle have been able to secure some of the 28 suites Co-op Live will have to offer.
After the likes of Betfred, Bruntwood and Mark Stott's Vita Group invested, only five remain which could be priced between £200,000 and £250,000.
They come with a minimum term of three years but some have signed up for between five and seven years already.
Speaking at the event in Manchester, Mr Leiweke also revealed that Co-op Live could have had a completely different home entirely.
Instead of being built by the Etihad, the original plan was for the Mayfield depot site next to Manchester Piccadilly.
It's unknown exactly why that deal didn't work out in the end but the involvement of City Football Group becoming OVG's joint venture partner is probably a good indicator.
