Co-op Live

Oak View Group (OVG) and City Football Group appointed Populous to design one of the world’s premier music and entertainment venues — the U.K.’s largest indoor arena and one of the most sustainable venues in Europe. Co-op Live arena represents the first in the next generation of live-music venues, crafted from the ground up with the planet in mind. Combining the latest in performance technology, sustainability and multifunctionality, the arena incorporates initiatives including solar panels, rainwater harvesting, zero-waste direct to landfill, and a purpose-designed walking route linking the venue to the city centre.

Located on the Etihad campus, the venue was designed to become the country’s most sustainable and influential hub for music, while significantly contributing to the regeneration of East Manchester. Renowned for its iconic music culture and history as a live entertainment destination, Manchester was chosen as the location for OVG’s first international arena. Designed specifically with music, sustainability and community at the forefront, Co-op Live re-establishes Manchester as one of the globe’s most important live music destinations as well as delivering new events to the city, including awards shows, international sporting events and tournaments, family entertainment shows and more.

Co-op Live represents the future of live events. As the UK’s largest-capacity indoor arena, it stands as a testament to music-first design, crafted from the ground up to provide the best possible live music experience. Designed by Populous, the arena combines the latest in performance technology, sustainability and multifunctionality.

Opened in Manchester in May 2024, as the U.K.’s only large-scale music-centric venue, it’s poised to become the country’s most influential hub for music, while significantly contributing to the regeneration of East Manchester. For fans, innovative audio-visual technology and acoustics combine with a unique ‘smart bowl’ seating design, attracting the biggest international acts while providing the kind of intimate and atmospheric experience that’s usually only possible at a much smaller venue.

Co-op Live’s angular form creates a strong visual identity that is instantly recognisable across Manchester. On the outside, a vast programmable ‘digital halo’ around the building’s facade allows for the promotion of upcoming events, alongside large format LED screens installed in strategic positions on the facade to animate the venue. The LED screens are integrated seamlessly within the cladding, meaning that the building presents a simple and uniform architectural identity. Inside, sightlines from the rectangular, three-tier seating bowl have been optimised for music, resulting in a more compact configuration that ensures no seat is more than 95 metres away from the stage. This puts fans up to 23 metres closer than in any comparable venue in Europe.

Various unique spaces inside Co-op Live have been tailored specifically for music lovers. These include 41 bespoke bars, restaurants and lounges, as well as two club spaces. Located within the building’s main atrium and accessible to all visitors, Vertu Place is at the heart of the venue’s hospitality offering, providing a space that encourages interaction across three levels. On the first floor, the Deck offers views into the atrium on the west side, with food and beverage units at either end. On the south side of the building, the concessions within the ground floor atrium can open onto a new canal-side public realm, which is accessible to both concertgoers and the public throughout the year.

Designed to be the most sustainable entertainment venue in Europe, the function, materiality and public realm landscaping of the arena all work cohesively to minimise CO2 emissions, waste, water consumption and energy use. The drive for environmental responsibility began during construction, when local materials were prioritised, with steel supplied from Bolton and the facade coming from Salford. The venue’s cutting-edge sustainable features include 6,337 square metres of rooftop solar panels,100% LED lighting, air source heat pumps, rainwater harvesting systems, high spec insulation and a facade designed to reduce heating and cooling requirements.

Driven by a sustainable approach, Co-op Live was strategically designed to minimise CO2 emissions, waste, water consumption and energy used, with the aim of creating the most sustainable entertainment destination in Europe.

The fully electric venue features over 3,300 solar panels on the roof, covering around 6,337 square metres – producing 1.3 MW of clean energy and generating nearly 960,000 kWh per year. Additional energy needs for the venue are met through high-quality renewable power procured via the grid. Other cutting-edge sustainable features embedded within the design include 100% LED lighting, air source heat pumps, rainwater harvesting systems, high spec insulation and a facade designed to reduce heating and cooling requirements.

Rainwater harvesting systems enable captured rainwater to be used for flushing toilets, with a tank capacity of over 600,000 litres. The venue also employs the smartest and greenest technology to provide zero carbon heating and cooling, including Air Source Heat Pumps and heat recovery ventilation, and uses only LED lights throughout the venue. As a result, Co-op Live has achieved net zero in Scope 1 and 2.

The venues landscape design strategy works on several levels to connect Co-op Live with its surroundings. At ground level, a prominent ‘green ring’ includes trees and a 400-metre green wall, significantly enriching biodiversity by providing a habitat for wildlife. The podium features a 45-metre, tiered timber terrace constructed from an environmentally friendly species of tree.

Operationally, Co-op Live sends zero waste directly to landfill, maximising recycling through designated bins that accept 4 waste streams. Surplus food is donated to local charities, with around 1 ton of food and a ton of clothes donated to date. The venue uses reusable cups, instead of single use plastic. So far, Co-op Live has used over 327k reusable cups – each one replaces a single use cup from being manufactured, saving over 2.5 tonnes of paper and 67,314 kWh. No single-use plastic drink bottles are used, drinks are served from draught or cans across the venues F&B offerings. There are also 12 water fountains available around the venue.

To promote sustainable travel, Co-op Live provided free tram travel across Manchester’s Metrolink network to all event attendees from April to August 2024. A pre-event survey predicted 48% of fans would travel sustainably, and post-event survey shows 57% of fans are travelling sustainably to events at Co-op Live, indicating a positive shift in fan behaviour. Additionally, Co-op Live and Manchester City Football Club invested over £4 million in the CityLink walking route, to encourage walking to the venue. Currently, over 50% of fans are travelling via sustainable travel means, which has wider benefits to the local community.

Co-op Live is not just an arena; it’s a commitment to a sustainable future, embodying the ethos of its community and setting a global benchmark for environmentally responsible design. With its ambition for an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM accreditation, Co-op Live is poised to become one of the most significant cultural and environmental landmarks in Europe, showcasing Manchester’s leadership in innovation and sustainability.

Conceptualisation of Co-op Live and work began in 2019, but then Covid hit, presenting new challenges for the design team. For everyone working on the project, the opportunity to imagine and bring to life a series of nightlife spaces during lockdown was a vicarious experience. The construction of Co-op Live began following the first wave of the pandemic, which presented unprecedented challenges for the team when approaching project development and collaboration. Travel was rarely possible, so all team coordination was completed online. Additionally, supply chains were significantly disrupted.

The Co-op Live site, historically a former coal mining area, presented additional obstacles and challenges, including the need to fix shafts and reroute the main sewer before piling work could begin. But thanks to our incredibly knowledgeable team – and a shift to a ‘just-in-time delivery’ approach to address the limited lay-down areas on-site due to its inner-city location, as well as changes in ground level along the boundary – we managed to overcome these challenges.