Chelsea is reportedly considering a move to a new stadium site amid rising costs involved with developing Stamford Bridge.
Last May, the Premier League club announced that it had put plans for a new stadium on the Stamford Bridge site on hold due to the “current unfavourable investment climate”.
Chelsea was granted permission to expand Stamford Bridge’s capacity from 41,500 to 60,000 back in January 2017. The Daily Mail reported in August that the club was set to resume work on the redevelopment but a date has not been finalised.
New Civil Engineer, citing sources close to the project, has now reported that Chelsea is considering alternative sites for a new stadium. The report stated that redevelopment of the current Stamford Bridge remains the preferred option, with planning permission having already been granted.
New Civil Engineer reported that Chelsea wants to reduce the cost of the £1bn (€1.2bn/$1.3bn) project by “around £500m” before work restarts.
Chelsea had originally hoped to begin work on the Stamford Bridge redevelopment ahead of the start of the 2018-19 season. The new stadium has been designed by Herzog & De Meuron and the initial plan was for Chelsea to move in ahead of the 2021-22 season.
It has been suggested that Chelsea would seek to use Wembley Stadium while work on a new ground is carried out, in a similar arrangement to Tottenham Hotspur, which moved into its new state-of-the-art stadium last month.
Image: Lachlan Fearnley
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