Huge new ice arena to open in TraffordCity as area becomes leisure destination

In exciting news for Greater Manchester, a huge new ice arena is coming to TraffordCity.

This follows the news that regeneration specialists Peel Waters have agreed terms with property investment company ICITIES to develop a brand-new ice arena in our region.

Planet Ice will be bringing their award-winning ice-leisure offer to TraffordCity, with the new ice arena being the brand’s biggest venue in the UK as well as their 15th Ice Arena in the country.

The purpose-built facility will feature a state-of-the-art ice rink, which will also convert into a multi-use event space.

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The new 3-acre development will be situated next to the Chill Factore and iFLY, on the former Soccer Dome site which was cleared by Peel Waters last year in preparation for future leisure developments.

It’s just the latest exciting announcement for the area, with the first inland surf destination in the North of England also coming to TraffordCity, as well as the new Therme water park and wellbeing resort.

TraffordCity’s portfolio of sport-based leisure and experience offerings already includes skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, skydiving and Trafford Golf.

Therme Manchester

Nick Payne, Director of ICITIES, said: “This marks our first major project and our vision to develop best-in-class sports and leisure Stadiums and Arenas in the UK. We already enjoy a strong partnership with Planet Ice, and ice skating will be the cornerstone of many of our projects like this one at TraffordCity.

“This arena will be our showcase and we hope to attract other allied sports and entertainment operators to this project. Where we can, we would like to include facilities that educate and entertain children and the wider communities.

“Across the UK, there is a general lack of first-rate facilities for many event space operators, like virtual reality, Esports, racket sports as well as screening and live entertainment. This project at TraffordCity, like many others we plan to develop, will address this need.

“We are delighted to have signed this groundbreaking deal with Peel Waters within the neighbourhood they have created at TraffordCity which is a perfect mix of sports and leisure. We hope our development will add to the community and be a significant addition to TraffordCity which is already a world class retail and leisure destination.”

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James Whittaker, Executive Director at Peel Waters, added: “Peel Waters is extremely pleased to have secured another brilliant attraction to TraffordCity. Planet Ice will be a huge success in TraffordCity and together with the existing and proposed diverse mix of offerings, we believe TraffordCity will be the UK’s best retail and leisure destination.
 
“Alongside boosting the local and visitor economy and attracting investment into the area, we are committed to increasing jobs and opportunities for our local community. Through our long-term vision for TraffordCity, Peel has helped create 17,500 jobs within the destination to date with plans to increase this to 33,000 over the next 20 years.

“This is great news to start off the year and 2024 promises to be another extremely exciting year for Peel Waters and TraffordCity!”

Peel Waters

Heath Rhodes, COO of Planet Ice, also added: “We are delighted to announce our commitment to lease a new venue at TraffordCity. Peel Waters wants to attract the best leisure operators to TraffordCity, and we are keen to be working in partnership with them and ICITIES to develop a Planet Ice branded venue at this location.

“Situated next to the Chill Factore and with easy access to and from the M60 means our customers from Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester are all within close range.

“The venue will be very complementary to our existing facilities in the northwest, in particular Altrincham, where we are often at capacity. We plan to provide a large seating capacity at the new venue for on and off ice entertainment.

“Furthermore, we plan to invest in our Altrincham site, so having this new facility close by will allow our customers full access to ice during any works we do at Oakfield Road.”

It’s estimated that the build time of the ice arena and event space will be approximately 12-15 months – once the team starts on site.