Bid to turn bingo hall into concert venue.

Owners of Dundee’s bingo hall launch feasibility study into creation of building that would be Scotland’s fourthlargest concert hall

Plans for how a 6,000-capacity concert hall in Dundee city centre could look can be revealed by The Courier today. The ambitious proposal would see the Mecca Bingo in the Nethergate transformed into Scotland’s fourthlargest concert venue. It would have an all-seated capacity of 4,775 over three tiers that could be expanded to 6,375 by incorporating standing room on the ground floor. Glasgow-based architects Wilson+Gunn created the designs as part of a feasibility study commissioned by the property developers who own the building. The study states the roof of the building could be removed to extend it upwards, with the Nethergate entrance extensively restructured to include a restaurant or café. The rear of the building, on Yeaman Shore, would also be remodelled to create an entrance. Internally, the building would have 102 underground car parking spaces. The ground floor would contain the auditorium, a bar, toilets and ticket office. There would be further bars and balcony spectator seating on the first floor, while the second floor would have a corporate dining area and upper deck seating. Architect Kenny Stephen, who worked on the redevelopment of Dundee’s Malmaison Hotel, said: “We were commissioned to do a feasibility study to see how a 5,000 to 6,000capacity venue could be realised.” Mr Stephen said redeveloping the Mecca Bingo building would be cheaper than building a new concert hall from the ground up. He said: “It makes more sense than building from scratch. “Bingo seems to be in decline, with more people playing online, so it may be another use for the building.” A spokesman for the building owner stressed there are no firm plans in place for redevelopment at this stage. He said: “It is purely a feasibility study because of the interest and discussion around creating a facility of this nature in Dundee. “It is a suitable space and the structure is already there but there are no development plans in place.” The feasibility study states: “The proposed site is presently occupied by a Mecca Bingo unit of over 100,000 sq ft fronting on to the busy Nethergate to the north, while being serviced from the south on Yeaman Shore. “This position provides an ideal location for a major events venue in the centre of Dundee, and in the heart of the waterfront redevelopment area. “The site is extremely well linked to public transport routes and is close to the new railway station. “Dundee has a population of around 150,000 with a catchment from surrounding areas raising this figure to 480,000 people. “The city has existing city centre event facilities at the Caird Hall; however, that venue is older and is limited to a maximum of 2,300 spectators. “The proposed arena is to be flexible and provide capacity for all-seating events up to 5,000, or 7,000 with standing spectators. It is interesting to