Scottish Rugby has revealed plans to build a new playing venue in the grounds of Murrayfield, the country’s national rugby union stadium.
The sport’s national governing body has applied to the City of Edinburgh Council for planning permission to construct the venue on a section of land currently used as training pitches.
The facility will boast a capacity of up to 7,800 and incorporate a new 3G surface and covered spectator stands around all four sides of the ground.
Scottish Rugby intends for the venue to become the new home of Scottish Pro14 club Edinburgh Rugby. The team would play home games at Murrayfield for the 2018-19 season, with the aim of moving into the proposed facility for the 2019-20 campaign.
The BBC reports that the project will cost approximately £5m (€5.7m/$6.6m).
Dominic McKay, chief operating officer at Scottish Rugby, said: “After many years of exhausting all the potential stadium and playing ground options for Edinburgh in the local area, we have taken the initiative and will be investing ourselves to develop a venue that can help the team to grow and provide a great spectator experience.
“We are fortunate to have space within the Murrayfield campus to comfortably accommodate this planned new facility and retain practice pitches for all elements of rugby.
“We see this as adding increased flexibility to the Murrayfield site and believe we have submitted a robust, sensible application and hope it will be viewed favourably.”
Jonny Petrie, managing director at Edinburgh Rugby, added: “It has been a consistent challenge to grow the club without our own ground and we now have developed plans that meet the needs of our fans and reflect the direction we want the team to be moving in.
“We have given ourselves the opportunity to fully engage with rugby fans across the city and beyond and deliver a matchday experience that merits their growing support.”
IMAGE: Edinburgh Rugby
