The Bristol music venue formerly known as Colston Hall has reopened after a £132m makeover that took five years to complete, three years longer than planned. Originally due to reopen in 2020, builders found the building in a worse state than anticipated, including three Elizabethan wells and hollowed-out columns. The renovation was also more costly than anticipated, with the original budget of £48m nearly tripled, mostly due to unexpected complications, inflation, and the pandemic. The city council provided most of the additional funding.
The venue, built in 1867 on the site of a boys’ school in which the slave trader Edward Colston was once involved, hosted concerts by notable musicians including Rachmaninoff, the Rolling Stones, and David Bowie. However, as well as the name change, which severs links with Colston, the new Bristol Beacon replaces asbestos, improves acoustics, and provides enhanced access and comfort, including two additional performance spaces in a Victorian recital room and the former cellars. The latter area will mainly be used for music education activities, along with schools, care homes, and hospitals in the city.
Thursday’s reopening concert features Bristol-based Paraorchestra, comprising disabled and non-disabled musicians, and local electronic composer and performer Surgeons Girl. The event may generate £13m per year for the local economy and help support 270 jobs, but some councillors have dissenting views over the final cost.
The Herald Sun reported that Liberal Party Opposition leader of Victoria, Australia, Michael O’Brien posted two videos on Facebook critiquing the new Australian state budget for including a $1.5 billion expansion to the footbridge to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, calling it “insanity”. O’Brien stated that, at the same time, local businesses are closing down, and the state government is failing its population, saying, “Now is the time that they should actually be supporting businesses, rather than building symbols.” As previously reported, the state budget aims to increase Victoria’s employment rates and support economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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