SSE Arena, Belfast

The Client & Their Challenge

SSE Arena is Northern Ireland’s leading entertainment venue. It is an indoor multipurpose complex with a capacity of up to 10,800 people, hosting concerts, family shows, theatre, sports (including ice hockey via the Belfast Giants), comedy, exhibitions, and more. hubparking.com

Because of the sheer volume of attendees (over 215,000 fans per season for just the ice hockey alone) and the variety of events, parking is a major operational challenge: traffic congestion, delays at entry/exit points, confusing validation methods, and user dissatisfaction are real risks.

The venue owner, Odyssey Trust Company, wanted a solution that would:

• Optimise flow of vehicles entering and leaving the parking areas
• Integrate parking services into their Arena app
• Simplify booking/validation so visitors don't have to juggle multiple systems or face delays
• Improve overall visitor experience by reducing stress linked to parking and payment/validation processes

Working with HUB Parking, we implemented a connected parking technology solution that consists of the following components:

• The Jupiter modular hardware system: robust, reliable gateway/entry-exit infrastructure.
• The JMS (overarching software system) to orchestrate operations, manage transactions, and integrate different functions (entry/exit, validation, app‐based bookings) in one unified platform.
• Mobile/app-based booking and payment integration so that users can pre‐book parking or validate parking directly through the SSE Arena app. This reduces friction, speeds up the process, and avoids confusion.

The Impact

By using our combined electro-automation & HUB smart parking solution, SSE Arena now benefits from:

• Faster vehicle flow — smoother entry and exit, reducing congestion and queueing.
• Optimised capacity usage — better use of the parking areas due to more efficient access control and booking.
• Improved visitor experience — less stress for attendees because booking, validation, and payment are streamlined via the app.
• Consistent validation processes — including simplification of validation across all retail locations within the arena.

Looking Forward

Having delivered this solution, our view is that SSE Arena is now well positioned to handle its growing event schedule without parking becoming a bottleneck. There’s scope to further enhance the system (e.g. predictive analytics for parking demand, dynamic pricing or more automated validation), and we’re excited to support those future steps.