A new centre for British music? Inside Soho’s immersive Outernet project

Outernet CEO Philip O’Ferrall has spoken to Headliner about the ground-breaking new development being carried out in London’s legendary Denmark Street, what it means for the future of music in the UK and how it is looking to rejuvenate the area with a host of new and restored music venues.

The major development will see not only the construction of an immersive atrium, complete with the largest deployment of video screens in the world at the entrance of Tottenham Court Road tube station, but also the opening of a new 2,000-capacity multi-purpose entertainment venue, the restoration of the iconic 12 Bar Club, as well as a new music-driven focus on the area’s surrounding retail outlets, celebrating the location’s storied musical history.

In its efforts to engage the UK music industry, Outernet has teamed up with the BPI (organiser of the BRITs) in a partnership that will see BPI-related music and video content beamed onto the vast screens in the Tottenham Court Road atrium. This content, along with content curated by Outernet and its various partners, will run throughout the day and the evening. According to Outernet, projected footfall for this space is in the region of 400,000 per day.

Headliner sat down for a chat with CEO O’Ferrall to find out more about what Outernet can offer the capital and its musical ecosystem…

Tell us about the origins of the Outernet project.

My background is as a television executive, so all the way through my career I've been in the entertainment of mass audiences. And in short, the project was focused on driving mass footfall in a very busy area and then building various different entertainment assets around it. We wanted to create an entertainment district, launching in London and then rolling out in other countries around the world. So it will become a worldwide network of immersive entertainment districts. It will be the world's most advanced public atrium, delivering our own and our partners’ content.

Importantly, the location of Outernet London is key. At the heart of the district is Denmark Street, so that asset is sat within the centre of the new district. You're right in the centre of town, adjacent to Soho, with all of its diversity and vibrancy.

What can you tell us about the event spaces? Will they be used predominantly for live music?

There were three main focus areas. The first one was to bring back music to Denmark Street and the main Outernet district. So, you'll see the 12 Bar relaunch as a live gig venue. On the street level and below ground, the target is for that to be at least five days a week of live music. Sitting adjacent to that is the 2,000-capacity mixed-use venue, and the focus there is absolutely for it to be used as a live music venue in the evenings. However, it will also be available for other events in the daytime or even certain times of the week, it will be booked for non-music, but it will always be events in the entertainment category. Essentially, it's a mixed-use entertainment venue.

Will the 12 Bar be redeveloped as it was before, or will it be a new look space that just retains the name?

The DNA of the space is exactly the same. I wouldn't say it’s been renovated; I’d say it's been restored. So, where there was rotting wood etc. that’s ben fixed, but it is still that same old, very much-loved space.

How much of a focus have you placed on the local music ecosystem?

It's absolutely our core focus to retain and breathe more life back into the music district. And we've demonstrated that by firstly keeping and adding music retail to Denmark Street and we've removed some of the shops over the years that were not in the music sector. There was a bookies and a hairdressers that are leaving the site, and instead we bought in a tattoo shop, which we sort of put in the music category. Roland pianos just came back to the street very recently, so our intention is to keep fostering Denmark Street as the home of British music. And, as you’ll have seen through our partnerships with the BPI and launching the Brit Studio on Denmark Street, there is a massive commitment from us to the live music scene.

For the retail units on Denmark Street, in their lease, they can only be used for music or music-related purposes. That helps fix that environment, rather than just seeing a lot of Denmark Street turned into offices.

Meanwhile, the above ground environment features Dolby Atmos, and we are using L-Acoustics speakers in the main public atrium, so we're really invested and focused on creating the best sounding public space in the world.

How closely supportive has the BPI been throughout this project?

That the BPI has been incredibly supportive, and they share our vision of recreating or breathing life back into an extremely strategically important part of the music industry. It's where so many great things in the music world began, so their endorsement of the project is key. We will be exhibiting Brit, Mercury and other BPI-owned content on the screens to the public. When you come out of the tube, you'll see Brit and Mercury content being exhibited in that environment. There will be no doubt in your mind of the support that the BPI are giving to us. We're very proud to have that partnership.

When will the project be fully up and running? And when will the rollout to other cities around the world begin?

We are having what I would call a soft launch from the middle to end of this year, and we're starting to put on test gigs in the subterranean 2,000-capacity venue from over the summer.

So, during August, we're going to be doing tests.

We will be opening the big public atrium towards the end of the year. So, before Christmas, you'll see most of the environment will have become live and we'll be announcing more retailers and brands that are coming back to what we hope will be a new centre for British music at Denmark Street.