Dundee Esports Arena Project Progressing
Despite a couple of setbacks, the Esports arena for Dundee seems to be going in a promising direction.
Back in 2020, it was announced that there were plans to bring an esports arena to Dundee. With the city being a hub for video games, it was natural for the city to go to the next level with esports.
The plans were lodged by Northern Lights Arena Europe in 2020 and they entered a formal agreement with Dundee City Council to bring an esports arena to the city’s ever changing waterfront.
We had regular updates on the arena, with the most notable being at the Scottish Esports League 4 finals which were hosted in Dundee in 2021, but since then, updates on the arena had gone quiet.
Over the course of the past year, we have heard no updates on the progress on the arena. It was intially due to break ground now with a 2025 opening but that has since been delayed indefinitely.
I contacted Northern Lights Arena Europe earlier this year to ask on how progress was going on the arena, but they had stated that there was nothing to say at the time.
Fast forward, and whilst researching for my column in the Evening Telegraph, I had found out that one company listed on Companies House, Northern Lights Arena Europe had dissolved, however there is still another company with a similar name which is still active.
This opened up answers as to why there was no updates on the arena. The Northern Lights Arena Europe website has since closed down and it looked like plans for the arena were dead in the water.
New progress is promising
I had later discovered that one of the directors at Northern Lights Arena Europe had set up their own business, Dundee Arcadia Ltd. which was established on Companies House back in March 2023. The Dundee Waterfront website also still lists Sites 10 and 11, where the Esports arena is set to be, as still under offer.
This was set to look promising as there was more insight and updates on the arena project.
New images by arena architects, Holmes Miller, were released in October 2023, showing a redesigned arena space which from the outset did look smaller than the previous design.
New information on the arena was released alongside the images:
- The project is estimated to cost £100 million and is currently ongoing from 2023
- The capacity has reduced from 4,000 to 2,000
- A new hotel and student facilities will be added on site
A new description was also released on the Holmes Miller website:
Holmes Miller are working with project Partners and Dundee City Council to create a multi-mode digital arena at Dundee’s Waterfront. The mixed-use development is centred around a 2000-capacity Arena that will cater a variety of events from Music & Conferencing, to Education & Esports. Hotel, Student Living, and experiential dining make up the full development that aims to create a civic asset for a design and tech-led City
There is an exciting demand for arenas designed to host Esports events, not just here in Dundee, as one of our fellow Cities of the Future, Toronto in Canada, are also looking to open an esports arena in the near future.
Like Dundee, the plans have faced a few setbacks, but it seems that like us, Toronto are still progressing in having the arena be built.
Esports Studio at college a brilliant stepping stone
Whilst the ongoing esports arena project continues, Dundee has already started stepping up its game in the world of esports following the opening of a new Esports studio at Dundee and Angus College on their Gardyne campus.
The esports studios is a brilliant addition to Dundee and already opens up accessibility for those interested in working in the field.
It is great that there is already an events venue that can host Esports events while the arena project is progressing.
Esports ‘a huge opportunity for Dundee’
Esports has a huge opportunity for Dundee. With the city already being dubbed as the Video Game Capital of Europe, Dundee is already preparing to go to the next level — and if the esports arena goes ahead, the city will cement itself as a hub in the industry as it continues to estabilish itself as a global tech hub.
