Manchester’s TraffordCity is set to welcome a brand new ice arena featuring a state-of-the-art ice rink. Situated next to the Chill Factore and iFLY, the three-acre development will be located on the former Soccer Dome site which was cleared by Peel Waters last year in preparation for future leisure developments.
The TraffordCity ice arena will be the biggest Planet Ice venue in the UK and their 15th Ice Arena in the country. Planet Ice already has venues in Altrincham, where ice hockey team Manchester Storm currently play, as well as Blackburn and Widnes.
As well as being home to a massive ice rink, the purpose-built facility will also convert into a multi-use event space, according to developers. More details and images of the proposed venue will be released closer to the planning submission, which will also include plans for several varied and inclusive onsite food and drink offerings, including grab & go options, a stylish family dining restaurant and a high-end sports bar.
The news follows on from the recent announcement of Tartan Leisure being brought in by Peel Waters to deliver the first inland surf destination in the North of England, which will also be located at TraffordCity. Meanwhile, work on Therme Manchester, the UK’s first city-based wellbeing resort, is also set to start on the TraffordCity site imminently.
Peel Waters says the new ice-leisure and events destination will “further enhance TraffordCity’s expanding portfolio of sport-based leisure and experience offerings, which already includes skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, skydiving as well as being the home of Trafford Golf”.
Nick Payne, Director of ICITIES said: “This marks our first major project and our vision to develop best-in-class sports and leisure Stadiums and Arenas in the UK. We already enjoy a strong partnership with Planet Ice, and ice skating will be the cornerstone of many of our projects like this one at TraffordCity.
“This arena will be our showcase and we hope to attract other allied sports and entertainment operators to this project. Where we can, we would like to include facilities that educate and entertain children and the wider communities.
“Across the UK, there is a general lack of first-rate facilities for many event space operators, like virtual reality, Esports, racket sports as well as screening and live entertainment. This project at TraffordCity, like many others we plan to develop, will address this need.”
Heath Rhodes, COO of Planet Ice, also added: “We are delighted to announce our commitment to lease a new venue at TraffordCity. Peel Waters wants to attract the best leisure operators to TraffordCity, and we are keen to be working in partnership with them and ICITIES to develop a Planet Ice branded venue at this location.
“Situated next to the Chill Factore and with easy access to and from the M60 means our customers from Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester are all within close range.
“The venue will be very complementary to our existing facilities in the northwest, in particular Altrincham, where we are often at capacity. We plan to provide a large seating capacity at the new venue for on and off ice entertainment. Furthermore, we plan to invest in our Altrincham site, so having this new facility close by will allow our customers full access to ice during any works we do at Oakfield Road.”
The estimated build time of the ice-arena and event space will be approximately 12-15 months once the team starts on site.