Liverpool FC's stadium delayed
- Published: 18 December 2007 11:03
- Author: Richard Vaughan
- More by this Author
- Last Updated: 18 December 2007 11:35
- Reader Responses
Liverpool Football Club's plans for a new stadium have been delayed by a year due to spiralling costs.
According to local newspaper reports, the news means that the scheme – designed by Texas-based HKS Architects – will have to apply for a third planning application.
It is understood that the designs will have to be scaled back as the club tries to rein in costs, which had been estimated at around £400 million.
Liverpool originally hoped to open its glamorous new stadium in time for the 2010/11 season, but the club's website now claims the stadium is 'on track' to open in the 2011/12 season.
It is also rumoured that Atherden Fuller Leng Architects' original stadium plans – dropped when the club came under new ownership – have resurfaced, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry issued a release stating the new ground will be 'slightly downgraded'.
'We are now considering two schemes but the stadium will be a 70,000-seater,' he said.
'The single-tier Kop stand [which will project the voices of fans across the playing surface] still remains fundamental to the design and we are not expecting any delays – it should be on schedule for 2011.'
