PRESS RELEASE
26 SEPTEMBER 2013
SAY HELLO TO THE SSE HYDRO
The SSE Hydro, Scotland’s new home of live entertainment was revealed to the world’s media today
(Thursday, 26 September 2013). SEC Ltd Chief Executive Officer, John Sharkey, a host of stakeholders and
rising local talent, Admiral Fallow, gathered at the new arena ahead of Rod Stewart’s opening concert on
Monday 30 September 2013.
Designed by world-renowned architects Foster + Partners, The SSE Hydro has a seated capacity of 12,000,
rising to 13,000 with a seated and standing configuration. The first purpose built concert venue of its scale, it
will play host to around 140 events each year, including national and international artists and bands as well as
being a venue for major comedy stars and sporting events.
The SSE Hydro has transformed the 64-acre site at the SECC into a complete exhibition, conference and
entertainments complex of significant national scale. Standing at 45m high and modelled on Greek and Roman
amphitheatres, it has become the newest landmark on Glasgow's skyline. Designed from the inside out, visitors
will enjoy excellent sightlines from the fixed, tiered and demountable seating system and the acoustics will be of
the highest standard.
There will be a range of food and drink outlets and hospitality options including a club seating area and VIP
boxes. By night, visitors to the venue will be greeted by its distinctive, translucent skin (ETFE) which can glow
12.8 million different colours or have images projected directly on to the surface.
The SSE Hydro is one of the first major developments to be completed in the SECC QD2 master plan and has
the potential to inject an additional £131 million per annum into the local economy. (The current economic
impact of the SECC is £347million per annum with 1.5 million visitors a year.) The venue will also play an
integral role in The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as the home for both gymnastics and the netball
finals.
John Sharkey, Chief Executive Officer, SEC Ltd commented:
“Building our new arena has been a very complex project, and hugely challenging. However, we are delighted
to be entering the final stage of this journey today. Our calendar for 2013 through to 2014 is filling up fast and
will provide fans with the eclectic mix of world class events that The SSE Hydro was built to accommodate.
“The project team, funding partners, Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise and sponsor partners
including SSE can be proud to have played a part in delivering a unique and iconic entertainment space
for Scotland which will be the envy of Europe if not the world”.
Sir Ian Grant, Chairman, SEC Ltd added:
“This is a magnificent addition to the SECC Campus. The importance of The SSE Hydro and its global
significance shouldn’t be underestimated with an expected audience of over 1million visitors annually.
“In addition to expanding our capacity and being able to attract the world’s biggest stars and global
sporting events we have also created more availability in the existing SECC halls which in turn will
generate more exhibition and conference bookings and economic impact for the local economy”.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said:
“The opening of The SSE Hydro is a landmark for Glasgow, and further cements our reputation as an
international destination. We can all look forward to welcoming many of the world’s greatest entertainers
and performers to this state of the art venue.
”Of course, The SSE Hydro will next summer be one of the city’s venues for The Glasgow 2014
Commonwealth Games, and I am sure our visitors will be impressed by such a fantastic arena. It will play
a major economic role for Glasgow in the coming decades, attracting concerts, conferences and events of
a standing matched by very few venues, even on an international scale.”
External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf commented:
“The SSE Hydro is an exciting new addition to Glasgow, which will attract thousands of visitors from
Scotland and far beyond when it opens its doors this month.
“This venue will not only act as a magnet for music fans but come 2014 will showcase global sporting
talent as a venue for the 2014 Commonwealth Games gymnastics, boxing and netball finals. Scotland is
gearing up for 2014 and is organising what will be the greatest Games ever. First class venues such as
the Hydro will help us reap the economic opportunities of the Games as well as deliver lasting economic
benefits for the local economy for years to come.”
Adrian Gillespie, Managing Director at Scottish Enterprise, said:
“With the addition of The SSE Hydro, Scotland has a unique combination of exhibition centre, conference
centre and arena all within the Creative Clyde area. This is vital for growing our tourism industry, with the
Hydro alone expected to generate an extra £56 million in visitor spending.
“Glasgow is now one of only a handful of European cities capable of hosting large-scale international
conferences which attract business tourists. Business tourists stay longer, spend 50% more than a
leisure tourist, and tend to travel around Scotland, which is great news for Scotland’s tourism businesses
as these visitors can fuel business growth and new tourism products. This is why we’ve contributed £25
million to the Hydro build, our largest grant awarded to date, which will generate £7 for the Scottish
economy for every £1 we contribute.”
Wendy Barbour, SSE Director of Commonwealth Games and Sponsorship said:
“The opening of The SSE Hydro is a historic moment for Glasgow and for Scotland and it also marks the
beginning of an exciting new chapter for SSE as we enter our first year as title sponsor of this wonderful
new venue. We are very much looking forward to offering our customers access to a range of exclusive
benefits associated with the venue including a 48-hour pre-sale through our brand new customer reward
scheme SSE Reward and we are proud to support live entertainment in Scotland through our investment
in The SSE Hydro.”
Gordon Anderson, executive general manager of Lend Lease commented:
“We are proud to have handed over The SSE Hydro to SEC Ltd, completed and on schedule. This
magnificent building has been a highly complex feat of engineering, and its completion is testimony to the
dedication of the Lend Lease team and of our whole supply chain.”
Spencer de Grey, Head of Design, Foster + Partners said:
“With its vast steel roof and capacity for 13,000, this is the largest performance arena that the
practice has designed – operationally, it allows performers a great deal of freedom in staging events,
and visually, its form helps to capture the excitement of a concert. We were delighted to have the
opportunity to work with SECC once again, almost 18 years since we were first commissioned to
design the Clyde Auditorium. The SSE Hydro has been a great team effort and it is fantastic to see
the arena come to life for its first concert.”