Bella Arena will be the name of Copenhagens new Arena, which is built as an extension of the Bella Center Copenhagen, Scandinavia’s largest congress, conference and exhibition center. With room for 7,000 seated guests in the new Arena, Copenhagen can host even larger international events in the future. A strong focus on sustainability throughout the construction process and an innovative partnership with Carlsberg gives Bella Arena a gold certification in sustainable construction.
Bellakvarter in Ørestad is already a magnet for international events with Bella Center Copenhagen and AC Hotel Bella Sky, which is only 10 minutes away from Copenhagen International Airport and directly connected to the rest of the city through Bella Center Metro Station. Now the area is being expanded with an arena with 14,000 flexible square meters, so that Bella Center can accommodate 30,000 simultaneous guests in the future. The arena, thus, provides completely new opportunities for Bella Center and Copenhagen to host global business and political conferences as well as cultural and sporting events.
“In order to attract the largest international congresses, Copenhagen has historically lacked two things: hotel capacity and a large column-free Arena, where the main speaker could speak to 7,000 participants at the same time. The hotels have been added over the last few years, and now we are adding the Arena which, together with the rest of Bella Center, raises the bar for which events we can draw to the capital,” says CEO of BC Hospitality Group, Christian Folden Lund.
The new Bella Arena is connected to the existing Bella Center via a large glass atrium, so that the Arena, the hotel, and Bella Center are now under one roof and can accommodate events with up to 30,000 participants. Bella Arena also gets its own identities and entrances, so that it can be used for cultural events and sporting events at the same time as there are other conference events in Bella Center.
“We have focused on creating a flexible solution that expands what the entire Bella complex with congress center, hotel and arena can be used for, so that we are 100 percent ready, when the world reopens,” says Christian Folden Lund.
“The crisis has certainly shown that the capital needs tourists, both holidaymakers, business travelers and those who come to experience special events. Before the crisis, travelers generated a total turnover of over 50 billion DKK in the capital. So, we have to restore the capitals tourism. And we must do this through change, focus on sustainability and innovation. We have to create something new, because the competition is only getting tougher. Therefore, on behalf of the capital, I am happy that we can open Bella Arena, which together with Bella Center makes Bellakvarter a new international hub for business tourism and events,” says Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen, the official tourism organisation of the capital region of Denmark, and continues:
“Copenhagen is a tourist city and an event city. This applies both to Copenhageners themselves and to the more than four million international tourists visiting the city every year. We must restart the experience economy in full force, and there will be a demand for large events. Of course, this requires that we have the right facilities here in the city. Therefore, the opening of Bella Arena and the potential we will have in Bellakvarter are crucial for the experience economy in the Copenhagen of the future.”
Sustainability and accountability are considered in all parts of the Bella Center and associated hotels. Naturally, Bella Arena is created with the same focus on sustainability. Sustainable materials, energy efficiency and circularity have been key focus points, and this has led to Bella Arena achieving the international gold certification within sustainability from DGNB. In close partnership with BC Hospitality Groups new beverage supplier, Carlsberg, upcycled beer kegs have been used in the process. The upcycled kegs are used together with recycled wood from the original Bella Center at Bellahøj.
“The DGNB certification is proof that it is possible to think sustainability in large buildings. At the same time, the opening marks the start of a strategic partnership with Carlsberg, which has strengthened our focus on sustainability. Carlsberg is not only a supplier of beverages, but an overall sustainability partner with a focus on circularity. For the next many years, we will work together to make guestsexperiences more sustainable,” said CEO, Christian Folden-Lund.
Carlsbergs contribution to the arena is based on the brewerys focus on circularity throughout the value chain. The latest innovation is the DraughtMaster-keg that in addition to ensuring better quality and use of the beer will be returned and recycled into new products such as furniture and building materials. In Bella Arena, the upcycled kegs are used for signs and furniture.
“We want to work with all our partners and customers to reduce total resource consumption. That is why we have created a system that ensures that as much as possible is recycled, upcycled and downcycled. Together with BC Hospitality Group, we saw a unique opportunity in Bella Arena to be part of the sustainability journey from the start. It is fantastic that our kegs, which are emptied by our customers, can come back as a new product in the same place,” added CEO of Carlsberg Denmark, Peter Haahr Nielsen.
Bella Arena is both completely its own and part of the extended family. The name “Bella” dates back to the first Bella Center on Bellahøj which opened in 1965. In 1975, Bella Center moved to its current location in Ørestad, which was then bare ground. Since then, the Ørestad district Bellakvarter has sprung up around Bella Center Copenhagen, the metro has been added with Bella Center station, Hotel Bella sky was added in 2011 and is now being expanded with Bella Arena.
