Contractor announced for Arena project

Leeds City Council announced yesterday that BAM Construction was its preferred contractor to delivery its 13,500 capacity venue.

BAM has built a number of high profile local, national and international stadiums including a new pavilion for Yorkshire Cricket Ground at Headingley Stadium, the Berlin 02 Arena and a number of stadiums for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

In Leeds, the company is currently leading on a 9.2m refurbishment of the Leeds City Varieties theatre and previously constructed the award-winning Leeds Metropolitan University building, the Rose Bowl.

Coun Andrew Carter, leader of Leeds City Council, said: "We received huge amounts of interest from contractors and the standards of submissions were extremely high."

Yesterday the council also announced that Bovis Lend Lease has been selected as the reserve contractor.

Last year almost 10m of funding for the arena pledged by development agency Yorkshire Forward was approved by the Government, prompting anger from Sheffield businesses and MPs who fear it could dent visitor numbers for the Sheffield Arena.

The announcement of the preferred contractor and reserve contractor follows a recent decision to grant outline planning permission for the arena building.

The project remains on track for the construction contractor to take control of the site this year, with completion fully on course for 2012. Construction work is scheduled to start late in 2010.

The Arena operator, SMG Europe, will also shortly seek to enter into a naming rights agreement with an organisation to sponsor the arena.