The chief executive of the company behind Co-Op Live, the Manchester arena which has had several aborted attempts at opening, has blamed Brexit and the pandemic for the delays that beset the new entertainment venue.
Tim Leiweke, chief executive of US-based Oak View Group (OVG), told the Financial Times that the root cause of the delays, which saw shows cancelled and fans turned away at the last minute, was a shortage of construction workers caused by Brexit and the pandemic.
The UK’s largest indoor arena successfully opened its doors last night for a gig by Manchester band Elbow, after shows by comedian Peter Kay, US rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie and Keane were cancelled. Take That had to relocate a series of shows to another Manchester venue.
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Leiweke described the past few weeks as “hell” for OVG after the 23,500-capacity arena was ridiculed by angry ticket holders, and said the experience had made him reconsider plans for a second UK venue in London.
He said he was shocked at the lack of skilled workers, telling the FT: “Towards the end of it I wish we could have been doing double shifts and overtime but we just couldn’t find people that wanted to. We were paying people two and three times and we couldn’t find people to work, it was crazy.”
Leiweke added that OVG had not abandoned plans for a London venue, but said: “Does it make me a little bit more cautious going forward? 100%. If Manchester was tough, London will be a bear.”
Yesterday he took construction workers and their families on a tour of the arena. He told Manchester Evening News: “This is personal for people – they’ve got their blood, sweat and tears in this building here. I’m very defensive on behalf of the 10,000 people who built this arena because I think they built the best arena I’ve ever seen internationally, and they’re proud of it.
“So yeah, we get frustrated, we want to do well, we’re not trying to screw up, we’re wanting to do something fantastic for Manchester and we want everyone to be proud of this building. Has it been a frustrating three weeks? Yes. But we have 1,000 people that work here tonight in this building and they’re excited because it means we finally get a chance to put our best foot forward.”
The construction industry is estimated to be facing a shortage of a quarter of a million workers between 2022 and 2026 because of labour challenges triggered by Brexit and the pandemic.
In 2022, the Construction Industry Training Board forecast that to meet demand for housebuilding, infrastructure projects, repairs and maintenance, the sector’s workforce must reach 2.8 million by 2026.
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