Colin Chong, Everton Football Club's Stadium Development Director, recently provided supporters with an update on the new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium. The blog, featured below, discusses the latest developments, including the build programme and when a planning decision is expected, as well as how the Club remains hopeful of being on site in the first half of 2021.
Colin Chong, Everton Football Club's Stadium Development Director
As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to provide an update on our stadium project and an insight into what the first few months of 2021 may hold as our plans for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock continue to progress.
Firstly, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout a difficult year. Your backing for this transformational project has really made a difference. We've had passionate, insightful and widescale support for the public consultations held by Liverpool City Council - reflecting the overwhelming desire of the people of our city region - and beyond - to see this project happen.
A year of steady progress
A new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, which will sit within Peel Land & Property's Liverpool Waters site, is a priority for this football club and a key part of our long-term strategy. There is a strong sense of urgency from within the Club to make this development happen as soon as we possibly can. Whilst the impact of a global pandemic has seen many other developments stall, be postponed or mothballed indefinitely, we have continued to make steady progress while our planning application goes through the required process.
Since our last update in August and the submission of our amended planning application in September, we have been working alongside our preferred building contractor, Laing O'Rourke, and engineering consultants, BuroHappold, to develop this highly complex scheme in readiness for the stadium construction. This has culminated in two listed building consent submissions to Liverpool City Council focusing specifically on the Regent Road Dock Wall and the enabling and remediation work required prior to the commencement of building the stadium.
With a build-programme now in place with Laing O'Rourke, Everton has been looking specifically at what matchdays will look like at Bramley-Moore Dock. Images, courtesy: Pattern
While on-site we have also been testing various brick samples and building materials. These samples allow us to understand how our building materials will respond to the waterfront environment, how they will look against the aesthetic of the site itself - with the hydraulic tower and external dock wall - and against the surrounding urban environment. By having our chosen brick, glass and steel materials in place it means we can save the time we need when going into the build phase.
We have also been finalising technical matters in relation to ecology and transport - as well as completing our climate modelling. Our climate reporting gives us a clear picture of what the wind, temperature and precipitation levels are like throughout the year on-site. This information backs up our initial modelling and has been helpful in confirming we have the right stadium design and materials.
With a build-programme now in place with our preferred contractor, we have been looking specifically at what matchdays will look like at Bramley-Moore Dock. Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the survey we put out to supporters in November. The information you have provided will help us begin to look at how we develop our future matchday offer.
By getting new data that isn't related to Goodison Park, it allows us to build a picture of your expectations for attending matches in the future, the various price points and products that might interest you and, in-turn, the kind of fan facilities we could implement at our new stadium.
It is important to state that no final decisions have been made on Season Ticket, Hospitality or Matchday ticket prices. It has always been our intention to ensure our new stadium broadens our matchday offer and allows every Evertonian the opportunity to enjoy a matchday that caters for their needs.
Once all the data and numbers have been reviewed and analysed from this survey, we'll provide an overview of the headline results in the New Year.
You can read the full article from Sports Venue Business HERE
