• G-Live has a capacity of 1,700 or 1,000 for seated events.

• The new venue cost £26 million to complete.

• It has been eight years in the making, after the old Civic Hall was closed down.

• Around 80% of the old building has been recycled and used in the new building.

• There has been an entertainment venue on the site since 1962 when the old Civic Hall was opened by HRH the Duchess of Kent.

• The likes of The Jam, Status Quo and Eric Clapton performed at the old venue.

• The name G-Live was decided upon after names such as Eg, G Space, The Edge and GO2 were rejected.

Eight years after it closed, Guildford's new civic hall throws open its doors today.

G Live cost £26 million to build and boasts a 1,700 standing capacity.

Leader of the council Tony Rooth says a delay in replacing the old building was beyond their control: "Our original contractor pulled out, we then had to find someone else, we then had to find a new contractor.

"So it does take some time.

"But it is a fabulous venue and unfortunately the old civic hall had run out of steam.

"I know people will have different views about the look of the building and the name of the venue, but people had the same reservations about the Spectrum and it became the UK's number one leisure centre.

"We hope G Live will become, there or there abouts, the UK's number one entertainment venue."

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Stephen Merchant is one of the first acts to confirm he's to perform at G-live.

The writer of The Office and Extras is to appear at what was Guildford's Civic Hall in September.

Rolling Stone Bill Wyman will play two months later.

The dates have been confirmed on both acts' official websites.

It's taken 8 years - but Guildford's new entertainment venue has been given a name.

The replacement for the Civic Hall is set to be branded as G Live.

It's due to open 2 weeks ahead of schedule in September.

Could Guildford's new civic hall come in under budget?

Council bosses didn't want to tempt fate, but say they hope the new entertainment venue will only cost £25 million.

Dogged by delays, the cost of the project has more than doubled since the old hall closed 6 years ago.

Leader Tony Rooth says they had to pull the old building down: "It was falling apart and it clearly had little or no appeal to the sort of acts that the people of Guildford want to have performed.

"Now we are well on track to get a venue which will provide a platform for the sort of entertainment the people of this part of the county are really looking for."

Students from the Guildford School of Acting and ACM have been the first to perform at the town's new Civic Hall.

But the 26 million pound venue's not quite open to the public yet.

Today a topping out ceremony marked the completion of the outer shell, but there's still over a year of refurbishment.

Guildford MP Anne Milton tells Eagle Radio/County Sound it'll have a big impact when it's finished

"People have been desperate for a good enteretainment venue, but there's also going to be conference facilities to bring people into the town, so it's fantasic."

The entertainment venue will have a 17 hundred capacity - bosses are deciding who will run it later this month.

Mark Tant from developers Wilmot Dixon tells Eagle Radio/County Sound the building's already won an award for being green.

"Over 90% of the waste we produce doesn't go to landfill, we're aiming for carbon neutral by 2012."