Co-op Live will showcase Manchester’s new era of music-led engineering excellence this weekend, as the BRIT Awards arrive at their new northern home for the next two years.
Conceived as the UK’s only music-first arena, Co-op Live’s tight bowl, low roof and steeply raked seating tiers are all designed to pull fans closer to the stage and concentrate energy on the performance. With a maximum capacity of 23,500, it is also the country’s largest indoor live music venue, combining scale with an unusually intimate feel for fans and artists alike. Working alongside architect Populous, our engineers shaped the bowl geometry and structure to prioritise sightlines, proximity and atmosphere for live music over more traditional, multi-use arena layouts.
Mark Phillip, Director at Vanguardia, A Buro Happold Company, said: “Our specialist team at Vanguardia developed the arena’s audiovisual strategy, tuning the bowl and interior finishes to deliver powerful, clear sound throughout the venue. This approach is designed so that even fans in the very back rows experience impactful, intelligible audio, avoiding the echoes and muddiness that can affect large enclosed arenas.”
The roof as an engine for live shows
High above the stage, Co-op Live’s long-span roof trusses form what our teams have described as “a machine that enables the various productions.” The steelwork not only spans the main bowl but also supports extensive walkways, rigging strong points and critical show infrastructure for lighting, sound and large-scale scenic elements. Designed for high rigging capacities and fast changeovers, the roof allows production teams to hang complex touring setups and BRIT-scale staging night after night without compromising safety or show ambition.
This embedded flexibility means the venue can move quickly between major tours, award ceremonies and other live events, supporting Manchester’s growing role on the global touring circuit. For the BRIT Awards, that combination of structural capacity and refined acoustics is central to delivering a TV-ready spectacle that still feels like an authentic live music experience in the room.
Regenerating a former industrial site
Rob Amphlett, Sport and Entertainment Lead at Buro Happold, said: “Co-op Live is a great example of how disused industrial sites can be brought back to life in our cities. The brownfield land was previously home to a gasworks, so we first had to deal with contamination and some really challenging ground conditions to make development possible.
“From there, our teams worked on the venue itself, taking a truly multidisciplinary approach to realise a major entertainment landmark that plays a significant role in east Manchester’s wider regeneration and sports-led transformation.”
By transforming disused industrial land into a next-generation live entertainment venue, the arena is opening up major cultural moments, including the BRIT Awards, to audiences across the region, rather than concentrating flagship music events exclusively in London. Co-op Live’s location, directly connected into the Etihad Campus transport network, also supports more sustainable travel options for large crowds.
Sustainability and next-generation fan experience
Sustainability is a defining strand of the arena’s concept, with Co-op Live positioned as the UK’s largest and most sustainable indoor arena. The venue is fully electric, designed to be powered by renewable energy, and incorporates measures such as high-performance fabric, efficient building systems and water-saving strategies to reduce operational carbon and resource use. Buro Happold provided wider sustainability, transport, people movement, security and public safety consulting to ensure that environmental performance is matched by safe, efficient operation on event days.
Inside, the arena is designed to function as an immersive live entertainment ecosystem, with 41 bars and restaurants, premium clubs and hospitality spaces wrapped around the bowl to keep fans close to the action. Together, these engineering, acoustic and operational decisions create a venue that is big enough to attract the world’s largest tours yet intimate enough to deliver the kind of close-up fan experience artists increasingly seek.
A new northern stage for the BRITs
As Co-op Live hosts the BRIT Awards for the first time, Manchester becomes the focal point for one of the UK’s biggest nights in music, marking a symbolic shift as the ceremony moves north after decades in London. For Buro Happold and our collaborators, the event is a showcase of the arena’s world-class engineering and design, built from the ground up around the live music experience.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.burohappold.com ’
