Live Nation plans Apollo upgrade
THE owner of the Manchester’s Apollo concert venue is planning a redevelopment of the building.
An application has been submitted on behalf of US-based events giant Live Nation (UK) for consent to alter the building, which is listed, in order to redevelop the main auditorium, ancillary areas and its three changing rooms.
Mark Rothwell of Manchester-based chartered building surveyor MGR Associates said the proposed works were an extension of an art deco theme developed at the venue’s circle bar last year.
“We’re extending the same theme throughout and into the auditorium, which is looking a little bit dated,” he said.
“It’s a significant financial investment by Live Nation and O2 to keep the venue at the top of the table in Manchester.”
The 3,500-capacity building in Ardwick was originally built as a cinema house in the 1930s.
Meanwhile, a separate application has also been submitted to develop an empty site immediately adjacent to the venue into an eight-storey hotel, which would contain 136 bedrooms, a restaurant and a car park.
An outline planning application to build an 111-bed hotel on the site by Saad Alazzawi was approved three years ago, but permission is set to expire next on January 18, 2012.
