The Silvertown Partnership, a group of property developers who revealed last year they want to turn East London into an esports hub, have spoken about their plans.
The hub will be a 300,000sq ft building featuring player lodging, fan zones, caster studios, areas for players to prepare for matches, and of course a new esports arena.
The arena will be a two-deck dedicated ampitheatre with 2,500 seats that the group has promised will ‘be able to accommodate the vast majority’ of esports events.
Ben Reed, head of brand for property developers First Base, told PC Games N‘s Samuel Horti: “It will be one big amphitheatre, like a mini version of Rome’s Colosseum with boxes all the way round for teams and testing areas.
“It will be one big amphitheatre, like a mini version of Rome’s Colosseum with boxes all the way round for teams and testing areas.”
Ben Reed, First Base
“If [esports event holders] took somewhere like Alexandra Palace or the Copper Box, they’re going to have issues with bringing stuff in, or somebody’s got a gig at the weekend. We’ve heard from the industry that they just want to keep their kit in a static location.”
There will also be ‘hotel-style’ accommodation with hot tubs available to guests, as well as restaurants and shops on the ground floor. Companies will have access to office space above the ground floor.
Ben Reed also predicts there will be academies where up and coming young talent can practice.
The project is all part of a £3.5bn development project approved by the Government that promises new commercial and residential space, up to 3,000 new homes and the creation of more than 20,000 jobs.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
