The 3,500 capacity Becketwell entertainment complex is being built on the site of the former Pennine Hotel, Laurie House offices, multi-storey car park and Pink Coconut nightclub in the centre of Derby.
It forms phase two of the £200m Becketwell regeneration scheme.
The Becketwell performance venue will be owned by Derby City Council and leased to and operated by ASM Global, which runs Wembley Arena. the Sage Arena in Gateshead and Manchester’s AO Arena.
Demolition work for the performance venue began in May 2022. Bowmer & Kirkland took over the site to begin construction on 5th June 2023. Practical completion is scheduled for January 2025, a couple of weeks later than was originally planned when contracts were signed in March 2022.
In February 2022, Peveril Securities, the development arm of the Bowmer & Kirkland Group, was appointed funding and development partners for future phases of the Becketwell scheme.
Phase one of the Becketwell development, which comprises 259 one and two-bedroom build To rent (BTR) apartments, is near completion alongside Springwell Square, which will serve as a multi-purpose space within the development.
Future planned phases of the scheme include the potential for a range of other complementary uses of the site including a hotel, further residential accommodation, a multi-storey car park and purpose-built student residential flats.
Paul Morris, director of St James Securities, said: “In a very difficult inflationary climate where materials and labour costs have increased substantially, St James Securities has worked extremely hard with B&K through the design development and tendering stage to ensure the project would be delivered well within the fixed price contract with Derby City Council.
“I won’t pretend it’s been an easy process to get to this stage; however, I am very proud of the entire professional team involved in this project who have worked tirelessly to ensure that we’ve worked around the many challenges we faced along the way.
“There have been a few naysayers who have sought to publicly criticise us and suggest we would either throw the towel in or return to the council seeking more money. This is simply not how we operate and once we agree a price, as we did with Derby City Council, then we stand by it. We have a wealth of experience in delivering complex, award-winning regeneration schemes and having the financial backing of Peveril Securities has further strengthened our ability to take on these challenges and win.
“The skill set of a dedicated and experienced team, such as the one we have pulled together for the performance venue, allows us to work in a way that central government or local authorities are not able. This is a great example of how the private and public sectors can work in partnership to deliver complex schemes at a fixed price with the private sector absorbing all the development and construction risks which in this project have been substantial.”
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