It was a climate-controlled building covering 3.5 acres (1.4 ha) on Douglas's waterfront, consisting of 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) of floor area constructed at a cost of £2 million.

The building's exterior and the interior were designed by two architects who did not coordinate their planning with each other and thereby created a venue with significant fire risks.

[4] Summerland was designed to accommodate up to 10,000 tourists and consisted of a dance hall, five floors of holiday games, a rollerskating rink, restaurants and public bars.

This part of the building was clad in a material called Galbestos: profiled steel sheeting with asbestos felt on both sides coated with bitumen,[5][8] with no fire-resistant qualities.

One survivor (who was a child at the time) remembered her father noticing smoke coming from the ventilation shaft and had started to attempt to evacuate when the whole area erupted in flames.

Instead, the first call came from a passing taxi driver, while another came from the captain of a ship 2 miles (3.2 km) offshore who radioed HM Coastguard and said, "It looks as if the whole of the Isle of Man is on fire".

[14] No specific individuals or groups were blamed and the deaths were attributed to misadventure, although the delay in evacuation and the flammable building materials were condemned.

[9] In October 2002, torrential rain caused damage to several structures, as well as two landslides behind Summerland which dislodged two 50-tonne concrete blocks that had once supported the roof of the original building, but had not been removed in the wake of the fire.

A geotechnical team determined that the blocks could not be safely stabilised or removed and that there was a risk they would fall into the buildings below, so the site was scheduled for demolition.

It bears the names of those killed in the fire and is set into a circle of paving, alongside a stone laid earlier to mark the 25th anniversary.