Special Report: How Liverpool has changed since 2008 - the River Mersey waterfront
Source: Liverpool Echo
The ECHO arena and the BT Convention Centre (interlinking, but with their own strong identities) have had an incredible impact on the city since 2008, benefiting our economy to the tune of £500m.
And the team there is now looking forward to them being joined by the eagerly-awaited Exhibition Hall – which, as well as major conferences, will be able to cater for concerts with a 10,000 standing capacity. It is due to open before the end of 2014.
Yes, it’s all going on down on the waterfront – and it has been for the last four years.
Among its many and varied events, ACC Liverpool has already hosted Liberal Democrat and Labour Party conferences – only the Conservatives are needed to complete a fantastic political hosting hat-trick (negotiations are ongoing!).
Meanwhile, surviving Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, together with Sir Elton John, Beyonce, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Lionel Richie and Cliff Richard are among those to have graced the arena’s stage – while all other top touring acts remain on the venue’s wish list.
How about gargantuan stadium fillers, like U2?
“Yes, U2 would be great!” says Bob Prattey, chief executive of ACC Liverpool.
His eyes light up as he considers ways of enticing such a supremely-successful band to Liverpool: “A residency would be ideal – don’t play anywhere else and see how many nights you could do here!”
It may seem a big ask, but the ECHO arena has been steadily ticking off big names on its wish list since 2008.
They finally built it – and the people have come.
Bob reflects: “It’s bizarre that Liverpool, especially with the music history it has, didn’t have a venue like this for so long – but when it came along people immediately got behind it.”
And it hasn’t just been Liverpool people. The Birmingham-born adopted Scouser – who was headhunted to lead the revolution on the waterfront in 2005 – shows me a letter he recently received from a Denbighshire man who attended Paul McCartney’s arena concert in December.
He wrote: “At long last, Liverpool now has a truly wonderful indoor venue in keeping with the general resurgence of a great city. The people of Liverpool and those in close proximity deserve this wonderful venue and can rightly be very proud of it indeed.
“From the moment we arrived to the sad moment we left the venue, we could not fail to be impressed . . . The staff were excellent and the facilities excellent . . . My wife and I have attended some amazing concerts at Wembley Arena, the NEC and NIA in Birmingham, Sheffield Arena, Earls Court and the truly splendid O2 in London, as well as the wonderful Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but we have to say the ECHO arena comes second to none.”
Now that’s what you call a happy customer!
For his part, Bob says: “The atmosphere in this arena is better than in any other arena in the UK. One Direction said it was the best gig they had done, while Roger Waters emailed us saying it was the best audience reaction he had ever experienced.”
But, he stresses, the waterfront venue is just one part of a city-wide renaissance: “Liverpool now looks and feels like a truly international city. I used to glibly quote the fact that there were 2,000 hotels within walking distance of us – now it’s 5,000. There has been a huge transformation, taking in Liverpool One, Albert Dock, Lime Street station and many other areas. We are bucking the trend and turning round those old, negative, stereotypical images of the city.”
As for his own highlights, he immediately says: “The Paul McCartney concert – because the arena hadn’t initially been part of his world tour. He was playing bigger venues, but we didn’t want to just accept that and so we, metaphorically, camped on the doorstep of his promoter.
“He ended up coming here for the last night of his tour, and it was such a memorable occasion.”
Bob adds: “There have been so many highlights – for example, the MTV Europe Music Awards meant we were going into millions of homes, live, across Europe and, of course, there was the 2008 opening weekend when the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra played in those ‘Celebrity Squares’ and conductor Vasily Petrenko was lifted up in a cherry picker!
“The BBC Sports Personality of the Year – another live televised event – was a great night, not least because of the fantastic reception that Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton received from the Liverpool audience when he was presented with his lifetime achievement award.”
And every time a big event comes to the arena and convention centre – not least when thousands of delegates and journalists spend several days here – the entire city benefits economically.
Bob says: “We have had two-and-a-half million visitors already and £500m of economic impact. Concert-goers, conference delegates and journalists also fill restaurants, bars, hotels, shops and attractions – while taxi drivers always ask us for the dates of our next big conferences!”
Kerrin MacPhie, director of sales for ACC Liverpool, goes right back to the 08 ambassadors event – held in the arena a week before the official opening to make sure everything would be right on the big day – when asked about her personal highlight.
Having started work there in 2006, she recalls: “That night I said to a colleague ‘Just look around you and think about the journey we have been on to get here!’ It was a really emotional moment.”
And after four years of success for the arena and convention centre in born again Liverpool, Kerrin stresses that a great many people have been responsible for the renaissance: “Neil Armstrong has always said it took thousands of people to get him to the moon – and our success is down to the whole of Team Liverpool.”
And looking ahead, with the venue having already established itself in the UK conference market, she says: “I’d like to see us host huge, international conferences that would fill the city for five days. Once one comes, the rest will follow.”
It is clear that this is a business which is developing and growing all the time – as evidenced by the arrival, after our meeting had concluded, of BBC executives, ahead of next month’s BBC Worldwide Showcase.
The annual programme export festival – the largest event of its kind held by a single distributor anywhere in the world – will take place here between February 26-29, after the BBC decided to move it from Brighton (a five-year deal has been signed with ACC Liverpool), where it had been held for much of its 35-year history.
Much like the city itself, the ECHO arena and BT Convention Centre are impressing people all the time, making new friends – and keeping them.
[Image: Chief Executive of ACC Liverpool Bob Prattey outside the ECHO Arena]
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