Bristol Beacon revamp set to cost city council an extra £25million

The cost of revamping the Bristol Beacon has risen by another £25million - meaning it's now set to cost almost three times what was expected.

Bristol City Council is revamping the city centre concert hall and initially set a budget of £48million for the project in 2018.

A year later, a series of setbacks saw the budget upped to £52.2million and in 2021 the cost then ballooned to £107million when construction work began and uncovered structural issues.

Further delays now mean that even more money is needed to complete the refurbishment with the estimated final cost now at £132million.

Bristol City Council, which owns the venue, is set to fund the increased costs through borrowing which will be paid back in annual instalments of £2.3million over the next 50 years.

Although costly, Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees says the work needs to happen.

He told ITV News West Country: "We'll have a world-class concert venue in the middle of Bristol, which will have positive implications for the centre of our city.

"What we do have here is an incredible venue and you can see it coming together.

"The alternative was to have this venue in the middle of the city that is no longer safe, had to be closed, deteriorating.

"This building has been a part of so many Bristolian's childhoods, such a part of Bristol's history, and it will continue to be."

He added that the council has faced numerous challenges during the redevelopment process.

"The cost is a painful reality but there has been a perfect storm of challenge for us," he said.

"We're finding historic features and elements of old construction that need to be rebuilt, but we've also had disruption to supply chain, business rates going up and inflation 15% higher than we anticipated at the beginning of the project."

Finance experts Ernst and Young have carried out a value-for-money assessment, to determine whether the revamp would be a worthwhile investment for Bristol City Council.

It agreed that the project had potential, but said it needs 'stand out' development points to differ from other developments, such as Filton's YTL Arena.

It said: “Current economic climate challenges represent a risk to the project and the income potential from the running of the asset.

“Given the competition across the sector, particularly with the opening of YTL in 2024, Bristol Beacon will need to develop a unique selling point to differentiate its offering.”

It added that the investment is 'unlikely' to result in immediate financial gain but acknowledged the potential of the project.

“Given the level of investment the council has made it is imperative that a good value return is obtained moving forward, both in terms of social, economic and financial."