Plans For 100,000 Capacity Manchester United Stadium Unveiled

Manchester United, one of the UK’s most tradition-rich soccer clubs, announced plans to build a 100,000-capacity stadium – the “Wembley of the North” as its being dubbed by UK press.

The stadium would mark the center piece of the planned regeneration of the Old Trafford area. The wider regeneration project has “the potential to deliver an additional £7.3 billion [$9.4 billion] per year to the UK economy which brings large-scale social and economic benefits to the community and wider region, including the possible creation of 92,000 new jobs, more than 17,000 new homes as well as driving an additional 1.8 million visitors annually,” according to a summary on Manchester United’s website.

The renderings of the new stadium were provided by Foster + Partners, the architects appointed to design the stadium district. These conceptual images will become more concrete as the project enters the next phase.

Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said during a press conference on Tuesday, March 11: “Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience, only footsteps from our historic home.”

Manchester United’s own media team interviewed Ratcliffe post unveiling, and wanted to know, what sparked the decision to build a new stadium, rather than renovate the old Old Trafford, to which he responded:

“Yeah, we spent a lot of time looking at the pros and cons of refurbishing the existing stadium, which has obviously got all the history. It wasn’t the easiest of decisions in a way, because the history of Manchester United is so important. But, ultimately, we’ve got a ground at Old Trafford today, which is a bit piecemeal, isn’t it? You know stadiums which were built or stands that were built at different times: they don’t fit together very well. The roof leaks. It hasn’t got the finest infrastructure. The players can’t arrive underground and all that type of stuff. It’s right next to the railway, which compresses the fans when they arrive, so we can’t get people into the ground that easily and out of the ground.

“You know this expression: don’t spend good money after bad. I think what would have happened if we tried to refurbish the stadium, we would have discovered that it actually would probably have been 70 per cent of the cost of building a new stadium. And in 25 years’ time, we’d be talking about building a new stadium because it wouldn’t be perfect. So then we looked at the option of a new stadium and, of course, you can design the perfect stadium then.”

He also spoke about the brief given to the architects at Foster + Partners, which was twofold: it should be instantly recognizable by anyone, and have an intense atmosphere, ie steep ranks reaching down right to the pitch. The pitch itself would be located several meters below ground level.

With that amount of seats, 15.5% of seats being turned over to hospitality, according to a Guardian report, which would mark 3% more than Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Other prominent design elements of the initial renderings are three masts flanking the perimeter of the site, referencing the trident held by the Red Devil on Manchester United’s coat of arms. A viewing station will be installed in the tallest 200-meter-high tower in the middle.

According to Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, the stadium will be “outward looking” and “the beating heart of a new sustainable district”. The whole site “will be completely walkable, served by public transport, and endowed by nature”, he said. “It is a mixed-use miniature city of the future – driving a new wave of growth and creating a global destination that Mancunians can be proud of.”

The new building would also host major concerts, a video teaser contains computer generated images indicating a in-the-round stage and musical performance.

Foster explained the vast umbrella containing the stadium, which will harvest energy and rainwater, and shelter a public plaza in front of the building. The stadium itself will form “the beating heart of a new sustainable district, which is completely walkable, served by public transport, and endowed by nature. It is a mixed-use miniature city of the future – driving a new wave of growth and creating a global destination that Mancunians can be proud of,” Foster said.

Sebastian Coe, chair of the government’s Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, said, he firmly believes that this project could be “the biggest and most exciting urban regeneration project in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics. I am proud to have helped lay the groundwork as chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force over the past year and would like to thank my fellow members for their contributions.

“Our exploratory work is now complete, and we will hand over responsibility to Manchester United for delivery of the stadium, and the Mayoral Development Corporation to drive forward the wider regeneration.”

The Old Trafford regeneration task force also includes Ratcliffe, club legend Gary Neville and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. They consulted more than 50,000 people ahead of the making the proposal, and, according to Coe, 1,200 of those were local residents.

During the press conference, Ratcliffe pointed to the fact that “the north of England has won 10 Champions League medals, and London has won two, but London’s got Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon and the Olympic Village. I think the north of England deserves to have a stadium where England can play football, where we can hold a Champions League final. If the government really gets behind this regeneration scheme then, with Norman Foster’s vision, in my view the greatest architect in the world, we will build an iconic football stadium.”

Foster said he expects construction to take five years, which can be achieved by using prefabricated materials and shipping them in. The projected cost is around £2 billion ($2.6 billion).

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