Title slide for VE Day anniversary talk at Kingsbury Library on 6 May.
The Spring 2025 “Your Brent” magazine promised ‘exciting events across
Brent libraries commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day’, and
frontline staff at our Council-run libraries have been under pressure to
deliver on that promise! As a result, I was asked (and agreed) to prepare an
illustrated VE Day talk, which I will be presenting at a Kingsbury Library
coffee morning event on Tuesday 6 May, from 11am to 12noon. If you would like
to come, you can find out more and reserve your place using this “link”.
As the request was made at fairly short notice, I had to use some of my
existing Second World War material in putting the powerpoint slide show
together, including an article I wrote for the 75th
anniversary, as part of the 2020 weekly
“local history in lockdown” series for Wembley Matters and Brent Archives. My
talk will cover not only the celebrations in May 1945, but also the six years
before that in Wembley and Willesden, and the slides may also be shown in other
Brent libraries on Thursday 8 May. As my introductory slide makes clear, it is
a talk that celebrates the end of war, not war itself.
The only other special event for the VE Day anniversary in Brent
libraries that I am aware of is a lunchtime concert at Willesden Green Library
on Thursday 8 May, from 12noon to 1pm. This free 1940s musical hour will be
given by the Bluebelle Trio. For more details, and to reserve your place, “click” here.
The Bluebelle Trio (Image from the Brent
Libraries, Arts and Heritage Eventbrite page)
2025 is also the centenary of the second year of the British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley Park. Brent Civic Centre is on the site of part of that exhibition’s
Palace of Industry, so it is appropriate that Wembley Library will be the venue
for my talk on “A Day Out at Wembley Park in 1924”, on Tuesday 20 May, from
6.30 to 7.30pm.
Title slide for my talk at Wembley Library on 20 May.
This is almost the same presentation that I gave at a Kingsbury Library
coffee morning in July last year, but by putting it on in the early evening, and
in Wembley Park, I hope it will make it more accessible for people who are
working during the day. If you would like to attend this guided tour, in
pictures, around the 1924 exhibition you can reserve your free place here.
If you are interested in the British Empire Exhibition, and particularly
in the part it played in 1920s British design, then Wembley History Society’s
meeting on Friday 16 May may appeal to you. Dr Kathryn Ferry will be presenting
an illustrated talk on “Wembley 1924 – The First Concrete City”. The meeting
takes place from 7.30 to 9pm at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Church Lane,
Kingsbury, and visitors are welcome. You can see more details on the poster
below. [I have been watching some of the “Villages by the Sea” programmes on
iPlayer recently, and Kathryn Ferry appears as a guest expert on seaside
history in several of them, so I know that she is an excellent speaker!]
There are other Brent Libraries events, for both adults and children,
which you can check out on the Libraries, Culture and Heritage Eventbrite page
at any time, by using this quick “link”:
I hope that at least some of these events will be of interest to you,
and look forward to welcoming you, if one of mine finds its way into your
calendar!
Anyone driving or taking the bus around the back of Wembley Stadium will be familiar with acres of Carey Group plant, now much of it moved to Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire.
The company was started in 1969 by three Irish brothers and is now a huge multi-faceted company but still privately owned:
In 2023 Carey Group owned T.E. Scudder Ltd was fined for colluding in illegal rigged bids for demolition and asbestos removal contracts. Ten firms were fined a total of nearly £60m.
Now Circadian Limited, a Hong King based developer, has started a legal action against the Group alleging that it was over-charged £2.4m for demolition work at Lots Road Power Station in London.
The claim states, 'the Cartel Arrangements caused the price of construction services to be higher that they would have otherwise have been.'
The Carey Group have undertaken building work for Quintain Group and also own the Seneca waste processing plant in Wembley Park. They operate a charitable arm, the Carey Foundation and at one stage expressed interest in running the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre.
In September 2023 the Group made a profit of just £9m after a loss of £38m the previous year.
I had a peek at Union Park North currently under construction in Wembley Park this morning. It is claimed to take inspiration from Humprey Repton who created the landscape around Barn Hill from around 1793.
At this stage there appears to be too much concrete to my taste and a natural pond/lake would be more in the Barn Hill tradition but of course it is early days. Some tree planting has already taken place and plans include 'a community centre, public art, a dedicated area for pets to
enjoy some ‘pet time’ off their lead and a new bandstand for free music and
entertainment year-round.'
Quintain claim that there are two aspects to the name 'Union Park' one aspect is bringing together a new community and the other a tribute to
Walter Citrine, the first Baron of Wembley and
'one of the leading British and international trade unionists in the 20th
century. Baron Citrine was widely credited for providing the Trades Union
Congress with the administrative backbone it needed to become the respected
lobbying organisation it is today.'
It will be interesting to see what is planned to explain his contribution in the new park.
The south section of Union Park has been open for some time. It is reviewed HERE.
Sisk has successfully completed testing of a new
low-carbon technology to decarbonize concrete at its Wembley Park project site
in London. Initial test results demonstrate over 70 percent of carbon savings
compared to standard concrete.
The low-carbon demonstrator project received
£500,000 from Innovate UK
funding as part of its Contracts for Innovation to pioneer the use of ACT,
Ecocem’s low-carbon concrete technology in a structure, which is the first of
its kind.
The demonstrator project was based at
NE02/NE03, Wembley Park, where Sisk has been working on the redevelopment of
Wembley Park for its long-term client, Quintain
for the past 20 years. Sisk gathered with each of its consortium partners for
an event hosted at Wembley Park to discuss its findings.
The two-storey project used a range of
different construction methodologies and concrete mixes all based on ACT. From
floors to precast concrete stairs, columns and walls, the initial feedback on
the performance of each element is very promising. In each case the concrete
made with ACT met the design specification for each application assessed and
delivered a significant carbon saving of over 70 percent.
This innovation will
revolutionize low-carbon cement commercial viability within the construction
sector. ACT, is a breakthrough
cement technology which combines a range of technical innovations with the use
of widely available low-carbon materials to decarbonize the production of
cement by as much as 70 percent, while enhancing the strength and durability of
the concrete it is used to manufacture.
Ross Cullen,
Chief Engineer, Sisk said:
At Sisk, we have been
committed to sustainability for many years. Our low-carbon concrete journey
began with the establishment of various strategies aimed at reducing our
environmental impact. One of the key initiatives was the creation of an
internal low-carbon concrete working group. This was formed to deepen our
understanding of carbon in concrete and to explore opportunities and
technologies that can help us reduce the embodied carbon in our projects.
The construction
industry has a profound responsibility to reduce our climate impact. As one of
the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, it is imperative that we
take significant steps towards sustainability. The development of low-carbon
concrete is a tremendous leap forward in this endeavour. This innovation not
only reduces our carbon footprint but also sets a new standard for
environmentally responsible construction practices.
Quintain the developer behind the huge Wembley Park project has revealed losses of more that £700m before taxation in delayed 2023 accounts recently filed. This compares with a profit of £140 before taxation in 2022. LINK TO FULL ACCOUNTS
The Quintain board said:
The group has a clear business plan, objectives and an
agreed strategy and there have been a number of major events and milestones
achieved in the period to December 2023 which have contributed significantly
towards achieving those objectives.
During the period and subsequently Quintain have made some sell-offs and also new loan arrangements:
If you are wondering about the 'immediate parent company', Bailey Acquisitions Ltd, there is an explanation. You will note where they are located:
Brent planning officers have taken up the suggestion made by Wembley History Society (see LINK) that there should be a commemoration panel at the site of the Never-Stop railway station that served visitors to the British Empire Exhibition. The site currently used by a skip hire company will become student accommodation known as Wembley Edge if the application is approved tomorrow.
In a Supplementary Report, mainly made up of corrections to the main report, they propose a new condition:
An additional
heritage condition is also recommended having considered the Wembley History
Society comments referred to above. This should read;
“Prior to
commencement (but excluding demolition, site clearance and enabling works)
details of the introduction of an illustrated local history panel or plaque
shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority,
in consultation with the Council's Heritage Officer, Brent Museum and Archives
and Wembley History Society.
Details of which
shall include but is not limited to the following:
·Description of the
historical significance of the site and commemorating the British Empire
Exhibition history of the development site, including the Exhibition Station,
Never-Stop Railway and King's Gate Bridge.
·Identification of a
suitable location within the site where the panel can be installed where it can
be easily viewed by the general public.
The historical panel or plaque shall thereafter be installed
in accordance with the approved details prior to first occupation of the
development hereby approved, and thereafter retained throughout the lifetime of
the development.
The fourth and final part of the guest blog by local historian Philip Grant on a key piece of local history. Many thanks to Philip Grant for his tireless efforts to ensure our local history is acknowledged and celebrated.
1. The original (west end) entrance to Wembley Arena in 2003. (Image from the internet)
Welcome back for the final part of this story. As we saw at the end of Part 3, the Empire Pool had been renamed Wembley Arena, and although it was
still home to some sporting events, it was now being used mainly to stage music
and entertainment shows.
If I tried to name all of the acts who have performed at the Arena, the
list would take up the rest of this article. I will just mention a few, and if
I miss one of your favourites, you are welcome to add your memories of the
time(s) you saw them at Wembley in the comments below. Among the top British
bands that have performed here are The Rolling Stones, The Who, Status Quo, Queen,
The Police and Dire Straits. The first two of those both had drummers from
Wembley, in Charlie Watts and Keith Moon!
It would be unfair if I didn’t also name a few of the top acts from
overseas that have also performed here since the name was changed in 1978. Did
you see ABBA, AC/DC, Diana Ross, John Denver, Madonna, Meat Loaf, Dolly Parton,
Tina Turner, Whitney Houston or Stevie Wonder at Wembley Arena? If so, please
feel free to add your memories below.
2. A Torvill & Dean programme from 1985, and a recent Holiday on Ice
show. (Images from the internet)
One of the original purposes of the Empire Pool was to provide an ice-skating
rink. Although Wembley stopped staging its own ice pantomimes, spectacular touring
productions from the “Holiday on Ice” franchise have been a regular feature at
Wembley Arena since 1978. If you saw it on TV, as I did, you will never forget
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s gold medal-winning “Bolero” ice dance at
the 1984 Winter Olympics. The following year, as part of their World Tour, they
sold out the Arena for seven weeks with their own ice show.
The building was now more than fifty years old, and in the late 1980s
Wembley Stadium Ltd invested £10m to upgrade the Arena’s facilities for both
performers and the paying public who came to see them. The improvements allowed
even more spectacular effects to be included, as the 1990s saw more than 900
concerts performed at the venue. One of the most unusual for Wembley was an
arena staging of Puccini’s opera “Turandot” by the Royal Opera in 1991
(building on the popularity of the aria “Nessun Dorma”, which the BBC had used
as the theme tune for its coverage of the football World Cup in Italy the
previous year!).
3. Concert of Hope, George Michael singing in 1993, and watching other
performers with Princess Diana. (Images from the internet)
Charity events had been a feature of the Arena’s programme for decades. The
annual Concert of Hope for World Aids Day was supported by Diana, Princess of
Wales, and top performers, including another famous musician who grew up in
Brent, George Michael.
Cliff Richard, who first performed here in 1960 as part of a NME Poll
Winners’ concert, had 49 shows at Wembley Arena in the 1990s, and was still
packing the venue with his 50th anniversary tour in 2007. A
different genre of pop music also came to the Arena in the nineties, with shows
from boy (and girl) bands, including Take That, Boyzone, The Spice Girls and
Westlife. Two of those groups were from Ireland, but another Irish import,
Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance”, was so successful in 1997 that it
returned for 21 sell-out shows the following year.
4. “Lord of the Dance” programme and video screenshot. (Images from the internet)
February 1999 saw the first solo stand-up comedy act at the Arena (many
more would follow) when Eddie Izzard performed “Dress to Kill”, in aid of The
Prince’s Trust. Britain (and Brent’s) increasing cultural diversity also saw
Wembley Arena hosting more Asian / Bollywood music shows, by performers
including Amitabh Bachchan and Asha Bhosle.
5. Eddie Izzard programme and Asha Bhosle poster. (Images from the internet)
By the end of the twentieth century, the original Wembley Stadium was about to be
demolished and replaced. It had been
bought, together with around 100 acres of land that Arthur Elvin’s company had
acquired, by the Football Association’s Wembley National Stadium Ltd, but they
were not interested in redevelopment. In 2002, they sold some of the land,
including the Arena, to Quintain Estates and Developments Plc, which eventually
bought 85 acres of Wembley Park.
Wembley Arena was only eleven years younger than the 1923 stadium, and
Quintain were soon making redevelopment plans, including a major refurbishment
of the Grade II Listed arena. Work began in February 2005, and included moving
the main entrance to the opposite end of the building, with access from a new
Arena Square (it is actually a triangle!). The project cost £36m, and the “new”
12,500-seat Wembley Arena re-opened on 2 April 2006, with a concert by Depeche
Mode.
6. The Wembley Arena redevelopment in progress, 2005. (Image from the internet)
You can see the Arena being refurbished in the photograph above, but
beyond it you can also see an exhibition centre, a triangular office block and
a round building, Wembley Conference Centre, which were built by the Wembley
Stadium company in the 1970s. The Conference Centre had been the venue for the
annual Masters Snooker Championship since 1979, but after Quintain demolished that
building in 2006, to make way for its Quadrant Court flats development, “The
Masters” moved to Wembley Arena from 2007 to 2011.
7. Scenes from the Olympic badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events at
Wembley Arena in 2012. (Images from the internet)
We saw in Part 2 how the then Empire Pool was used for some sports in
the 1948 Olympics, and when the Games came to London again in 2012, the now
Wembley Arena played host to two different Olympic competitions. First it was
the badminton events, followed by the rhythmic gymnastics. Together they brought
hundreds of competitors, from more than fifty nations, and thousands of
spectators to Wembley.
8. Wembley Arena, with Hilton Hotel and LDO beyond, in 2013.
Redevelopment continued around the refurbished Arena and its square.
Forum House was the first of Quintain’s many blocks of apartment homes, built
between the western end of the Arena and Empire Way. The Hilton Hotel was
another early addition, just across Lakeside Way (remember that the Empire Pool
was built at one end of the British Empire Exhibition’s central lake!) from the
Arena entrance. The former Wembley exhibition halls made way for the London
Designer Outlet shopping centre, which opened in 2013, as did Brent’s new Civic
Centre, on part of the site of the former BEE Palace of Industry, across
Engineers Way from Arena Square.
9. Arena Square, with Brent Civic Centre beyond, summer 2014.
Arena Square, with its seasonal fountains, has become a popular open
space (especially since the trees planted along its Wembley Park Boulevard side
have grown large enough to provide some shade). Another of its features,
designed to celebrate some of the Arena’s most popular performers, is the Square of Fame. Although this is on nothing like the scale of the Hollywood Boulevard
“walk of fame”, it has become an attraction in its own right. Madonna was the
first star to have bronze casts of her hands put on display, in 2006. The most
recent addition is Dame Shirley Bassey, in 2019, sixty years after her
appearance in the first popular music show at the Empire Pool (although she
continued to perform here well into the 21st century).
10. A Square of Fame compilation, showing some of the stars who have made
their mark at the Arena.
In 2013, Quintain handed over the management of Wembley Arena to a U.S. music
promotions company (now known as ASM Global). They, in turn, entered into a
10-year naming rights deal with Scottish and Southern Energy, so that the
building became known as The SSE Arena, Wembley. This made little difference to
the shows put on at the venue, which included the annual live final of the
X-Factor TV talent show (with previous episodes filmed at Wembley Park’s Fountain Studios, until they closed in December 2016).
11. Outside and inside The SSE Arena on X-Factor finals night. (Images from the internet)
The Arena’s name changed again, after SSE sold its retail business to
another electricity supplier, OVO Energy, in 2020. What began in 1934 as the
Empire Pool is now the OVO Arena Wembley. And twenty years after buying the
Arena, Quintain sold it in 2022, raising capital to pay for the construction of
more buy-to-let apartments as part of its continuing redevelopment of Wembley
Park. Its owner is now ICG Real Estate, part of the private equity firm Intermediate
Capital Group.
12. OVO Arena Wembley, from across Engineers Way, July 2024.
I hope you have enjoyed discovering more about the history of this
famous Wembley Park landmark and venue. It is a story that I have wanted to
share for several years, and the building’s 90th anniversary felt
like a good time to do that.
As long ago as the 1990s, Brent Council and the Stadium company worked
together to celebrate the sports and entertainment heritage of Wembley’s
Stadium and Arena. They did this with a series of ceramic tile murals, which
welcomed visitors coming from Wembley Park Station through a new subway and
onto the newly pedestrianised Olympic Way. Unfortunately, in 2013, the Council
agreed to allow Quintain to cover those tile murals with advertisements!
13. Some tile mural scenes celebrating events from Empire Pool / Wembley
Arena history.
Along with Wembley History Society and a number of local residents, I
have been campaigning since 2018 to get these tile murals put back on public
display. In 2022, Quintain agreed to put the mural
scenes on the walls in Olympic Way, which
they own, back on public view. They include the ice hockey tiled picture at the
top of the image above.
The other four mural scenes in that image are on the walls of the
subway, which Brent Council own. I had taken a photograph of the mural
celebrating the Horse of the Year Show in 2009, but the other three images,
showing a female singer (Shirley Basey?), an ice skater and a basketball player
(Harlem Globetrotters?), are all extracted from old views of the walls. All
four of these murals are still hidden from view, behind LED advertising
screens.
Brent Council had the chance to put the subway murals back on public
view from the end of August 2024, and there was a strong case for doing so. Sadly, Brent’s Cabinet was unwilling to consider that case, choosing
instead to receive slightly more advertising rent. That decision will mean
these parts of the Arena’s history (and more scenes from Wembley Stadium’s
history) will remain hidden from residents and visitors for at least another
four years.
LONDON – JULY 30 2024 – Quintain Limited is
pleased to announce a £755 million preferred equity commitment in its
award-winning developments, led by funds from Ares Management Corporation
(NYSE: ARES) (“Ares”), managed by Ares’ Alternative Credit strategy. Quintain
is owned by funds managed by Lone Star Funds (“Lone Star”), which will be contributing
£337 million to the preferred equity instrument.
With over £2.8 billion of investment to date,
Quintain has transformed the Wembley Park estate in London into a premier
mixed-used neighbourhood, with circa 5,000 homes, leading retail, modern office
space, and acres of parks and pedestrianised public realm.
“Quintain is delighted to have Ares’ backing as a
new partner, whilst maintaining our longstanding partnership with Lone Star, to
continue to develop the world-class Wembley Park estate which already is home
to the largest multifamily/build-to-rent community in the UK,” said James
Saunders, CEO of Quintain.
“This is a significant next step in the evolution
of Quintain’s development of Wembley Park under Lone Star’s ownership.
Wembley Park is one of the largest build-to-rent schemes in the UK and a
great example of ambitious place-making. In Ares, we have found a like-minded
partner, and together we look forward to taking this iconic asset to its next
exciting phase,” said James Riddell, Co-Head of European Real Estate at Lone
Star.
“Lone Star and Quintain have built Wembley Park
into one of London’s leading neighbourhoods, delivering a high-quality and
sustainable real estate for thousands of residents and millions of visitors. We
are excited to partner with their outstanding teams, and to provide significant
new capital for Quintain to continue its journey and cement its position as a
leader in London’s critically undersupplied residential rental market,” said
Stefano Questa, Partner and European Co-Head of Ares Alternative Credit, who
will be joining the Quintain Board of Directors as part of the transaction.
“Our team is an established leader in providing
bespoke and creative capital solutions to asset-focused investment
opportunities,” said Joel Holsinger, Partner and Co-Head of Ares Alternative
Credit. “We believe our scale, coupled with our flexible mandate, makes Ares an
ideal partner for private equity sponsors, as they seek to grow and optimize
the balance sheets of their highest quality assets. We are delighted to be
partnering with Lone Star in this landmark transaction for the UK market.”
WHO ARE THEY?
About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management Corporation
(NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager
offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment
solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and
infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to
support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our
communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to
generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market
cycles. As of March 31, 2024, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $428 billion of assets under management, with approximately 2,900 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.
About Lone Star
Lone Star is a leading private equity firm advising funds
that invest globally in corporate equity, credit, real estate and other
financial assets. Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 24 private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling approximately $92 billion. The firm organizes its funds in three series: the Opportunity Fund series; the Commercial Real Estate Fund series; and the U.S. Residential Mortgage Fund series. Lone Star
invests on behalf of its limited partners, which include institutional
investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, as well as
foundations and endowments that support medical research, higher
education, and other philanthropic causes. For more information
regarding Lone Star Funds, go to www.lonestarfunds.com.
About Quintain
Quintain is the award-winning development and asset management company behind Wembley Park, one of London's most exciting new neighbourhoods.
Quintain celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022, with 20 years since acquiring its interest in Wembley Park. To date, the 85-acre development has seen over £2.8bn invested and welcomes on average 16 million visitors a year.
Quintain’s award-winning residential management business, Quintain
Living, focuses on the management of Quintain's institutional quality,
Build-to-Rent (BTR) property management platform and pipeline. In 2022
Quintain Living was named Estate Gazette’s BTR Specialist and RESI’s
Property Manager of the Year.
