Construction has began on the new £27 million open air night show in Bishop Auckland.

In the shadow of Auckland Castle, Eleven Arches will open a brand new event for the public with work beginning this morning as they aim to be ready by Summer next year.

However, Damien Boissinot, Leader of the Project stressed its not a straight forward task

"The site is a flood zone so we must respect a lot of things regarding the environment and the ecology," said Boissinot.

"We had to take all the water from the lake and create a new lake in front.

"It's not easy, however we can do it but work on the project must start immediately"

For when construction is finished, Eleven Arches currently have over 900 volunteers, with that number expected to increase in the coming months.

The youngest volunteers is Five-years old with the eldest being 85.

"It is fantastic to have so many volunteers and they'll bring such a great energy when they're here" continued Boissinot.

"The engagement of the community with the event is one of the important parts of the project.

"It's part of Eleven Arches' vision and it is also mine".

Volunteers for the site will work with food and drink, the technical side of setting up the stages ready, site volunteers to help people enjoy their time at the event but also as the performers themselves. Playing a similar role to what the games-makers had at the London Olympics in 2012.

The centre piece is the Night Show which will recreate 2,000 years of North East history.

Despite initial difficulties for approval, the licence for the multi million pound project was granted by Councillors in July after concerns about noise had been raised by objectors.

But, Councillors said it was too "good an opportunity to miss".

The first machines are now beginning work on firstly the access to the show and the team are working towards opening in Summer 2016.