‘We couldn’t find people to work’: Co-Op Live investor blames labour shortages for arena woes

Brexit-fuelled labour shortages are largely to blame for multiple failed attempts to open Manchester’s £365mn Co-Op Live arena on schedule, its mastermind has argued, as the venue prepared to launch for the fourth time.

Tim Leiweke, chief executive of Denver-based Oak View Group, told the Financial Times the last few weeks had been “hell” for his company as its first venue outside the US became the subject of ridicule and anger from disappointed ticket holders.

In an at-times tearful interview ahead of the fourth attempted launch of the UK’s largest indoor arena on Tuesday evening, Leiweke said the experience had also given him “pause” over OVG’s plans for another massive arena in West London, a venture he mooted in mid-April. 

“I probably would have been doing jumping jacks and backflips about three weeks ago,” said Leiweke, who previously converted London’s Millennium Dome into the O2 Arena while at global entertainment giant AEG. “Now the jumping jacks and backflips are gone and I’m a little bit more grounded.”

Co-Op Live had originally been scheduled to open its doors to the public on April 23 with two shows from comedian Peter Kay. The building is a joint venture between arena giants OVG and City Football Group, owners of next-door Manchester City.

The first opening was delayed at the eleventh hour because of an unfinished build, including concerns from Greater Manchester Police about the safety systems in place in the event of a major incident. 

Two further rescheduled public openings were then also delayed, the second of which was cancelled after part of an air conditioning unit plummeted to the floor minutes before fans were due to enter the venue.

Manchester band Elbow performed at the arena on Tuesday evening.

The “root cause” of the venue’s overall delay from January, including most of the recent botched launches, had been the pandemic and Brexit, Leiweke said, in particular a lack of construction workers. 

“I’m just shocked,” he said of a shortage of skilled workers, including in the project’s final weeks when contractors BAM were rushing to finish the delayed build.

“Towards the end of it I wish we could have been doing double shifts and overtime but we just couldn’t find people that wanted to,” he said.

“We were paying people two and three times and we couldn’t find people to work, it was crazy,” Leiweke added.

Leiweke did not deny that some people working on the project had warned that the arena’s publicly-advertised launches could not possibly be delivered as scheduled.

“Look, I think BAM thought they were going to have the building done by April 20,” he said. “But again, there were issues beyond even their control. It’s not uncommon.”

OVG were “not litigious”, he said, adding that the company would “sit down and settle up” with building contractors BAM “when the time comes”.

Leiweke said he felt “terrible” for the ticket holders who had been disappointed since the end of April. The last three weeks have “been hell for us”, said Leiweke, his voice breaking. 

“Do I enjoy the kicking we’ve taken this past few weeks? No,” the 67-year-old said. “Do I like people making fun of my company or my building? No. I take it personally.”

Leiweke was speaking in one of the enormous arena’s nine VIP lounges, which are clad with Spanish marble whose importation he said had also been delayed because of Brexit. On Tuesday lunchtime, he was still surrounded by contractors, finishing wiring and furnishings.

He stood by his previous comments to the FT in April, shortly before the venue’s original opening had to be rescheduled, in which he called the build “the best I’ve ever seen”.

“It is the finest international building outside of North America,” he reiterated, adding that the project had been entirely privately funded. Suites at the venue have sold out at £300,000 for unlimited annual access.

Leiweke also said that rain in Manchester had contributed to the arena’s well-publicised delays. England and Wales had the highest rainfall on record in the 12 months to February.

He said OVG had not abandoned plans for another major venue in West London, but added: “Does it make me a little bit, erm, more cautious going forward? 100pc. If Manchester was tough, London will be a bear.”

Leiweke said of development delays: “Everybody’s experiencing this . . . everybody I talk to in the construction business — especially live entertainment — it is hard to get these things finished.”

Co-Op Live had taught him that “you’d better build an even longer schedule than they give you” if trying to build in the UK, he added.