Consultants drafted in as Manchester United starts to look at Old Trafford revamp | News

The first consultants functioning on the redevelopment of Manchester United’s Previous Trafford stadium have been declared with Tottenham Hotspur Stadium architect Populous encouraging attract up the masterplan.

The agency has teamed up with US job manager Legends which is at this time performing on the redevelopment of Liverpool’s Anfield Highway stand.

Setting up also understands that WSP is section of the project group with the club declaring “work will commence quickly on developing solutions for Previous Trafford and studying their feasibility, with the intention of significantly improving the fan experience”.

It added: “Fans will be at the coronary heart of the procedure, setting up with a conference involving the consultants and the Manchester United Fans’ Advisory Board later this thirty day period.”

A comprehensive rebuild is the most drastic of a few alternatives comprehended to currently being viewed as by the club’s hierarchy.

If United decide to rebuild their Aged Trafford ground, then Laing O’Rourke is staying tipped by industry insiders as the staff to conquer.

Any rebuild, understood to be getting given critical imagined by the file Premier League champions, could only be finished by a handful of companies – with marketplace sources suggesting O’Rourke would be the only one particular ready to carry out the do the job less than a fastened value.

Other firms that have created stadia in the past couple a long time include things like Mace which rebuilt Tottenham Hotspur’s floor – broadly considered to be the benchmark British isles stadium – and Sir Robert McAlpine which accomplished the 2012 Olympic stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates stadium 6 yrs previously.

The only other agency which has finished a stadium the size of any rebuild needed at Aged Trafford is Multiplex which at last done Wembley stadium in 2007.

One resource mentioned: “Multiplex doesn’t have a presence in Manchester. It is not most likely you are going to see them do mounted price stadia in the United kingdom.”

One more added: “I would say this [Old Trafford] is a Laing O’Rourke task. They will be 100% the favourites. I think McAlpine would only do it on a design management. [If it was let as a CM] then Mace would be in the blend also.”

McAlpine has a potent regional existence throughout the North-west but an additional supply stated: “I’m not positive about Mace. They’re not as robust there as they are in London.”

Laing O’Rourke has worked at Outdated Trafford before, introducing 7,900 seats to the potential by filling in the ground’s north-west and north-east corners in the mid-2000s.

O’Rourke is setting up a new floor for Everton at Bramley Dock in Liverpool with the stadium set to open up in time for the start off of the 2024/25 season. The business is also believed to be on the lookout at increasing Leicester City’s King Power Stadium by 8,000 seats to convey capacity up to 40,000.

It is recognized O’Rourke’s chairman and main government Ray O’Rourke was closely included in negotiations with Everton chairman Invoice Kenwright around the deal with O’Rourke, who is because of to develop into non-government chairman this September, possible to be involved in any meetings with United’s proprietors, the Florida-centered Glazer spouse and children.

Everton’s new ground is established to be just underneath 53,000 and has been created by US organization Meis Architects alongside with United kingdom observe Pattern. It is probably to be completed in advance of any function at Old Trafford commences in earnest solving any prospective conflicts over which group O’Rourke could set on the job.

Other solutions being deemed by United contain revamping and enlarging the South Stand, also known as the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand. This would provide other probable bidders into the combine which include Buckingham, the firm at the rear of the rebuild of Liverpool’s Anfield Highway end, McLaren, which has done new instruction grounds for Leicester City and Spurs, and McLaughlin & Harvey which is completing do the job on the major athletics stadium that will be made use of at this summer’s Commonwealth Online games in Birmingham.

Another alternative Manchester United is thought to be thinking of is to depart the stadium structurally intact but conduct a comprehensive revamp of spectator and company parts on all 4 sides.

Any new stadium will place capacity over 80,000 – up from the current 75,000 – when redeveloping the South Stand would take capability into the 80,000s as effectively.

When the stadium is 1 of the very best-known in planet football, it is also significantly older than a lot of of United’s rivals’ grounds, with sections dating back to 1909 when the club initial moved in.

A person problem with a entire rebuild is the place United would play their dwelling online games – Tottenham made use of Wembley stadium – with a groundshare with city rivals Manchester City at the Etihad, also built by Laing O’Rourke, deemed a non-starter. Any short term stadium is unlikely to have a capability of additional than 30,000.

Meanwhile, architect KSS, the organization at the rear of the Anfield Street stand redevelopment, has been questioned to draw up a masterplan for the club’s teaching facilities that will contain an expanded, point out-of-the-artwork facility for the men’s, women’s and academy groups.

Further reporting Daniel Gayne