Everton has today (Friday) announced that it will submit a planning application for its proposed new 52,000-seat stadium on December 23, with the English Premier League football club stating that the recent consultation process has led to an “evolution” rather than major changes to the design.
The Merseyside club plans to develop its new home at Bramley-Moore Dock, within Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters development, and hopes to move into the stadium in 2023. The forthcoming planning application to Liverpool City Council will be followed by a separate outline planning application for the redevelopment of Goodison Park, Everton’s current home, with the intention for both applications to be determined at the same time.
Today’s announcement comes after Everton last month released the results for the second stage of its public consultation over plans for its new stadium, with an overwhelming majority of fans expressing their support for the project.
The club received more than 43,000 responses during the consultation, with 96 per cent backing the plans and 98 per cent supporting the proposed Bramley-Moore Dock waterfront design. The outline design for the redevelopment of Goodison Park has been supported by 92 per cent of respondents.
The club today said that the December 23 submission will coincide with the release of new images of the final designs. Writing in a blog post, Everton’s stadium development director, Colin Chong, said: “As the new visuals will show, it is a case of evolution rather than any major changes to the design presented during the second stage consultation.
“The results of that consultation made it clear Dan Meis’ design was incredibly well received. The elements that the feedback told us people really loved about the design – the use of brick, the steepness of the stands, the respect to the area’s heritage and nod to Archibald Leitch’s architecture in the brickwork as well as the blending of new and old – are all present within our final proposals.
“The site is a former dock so I am sure you will be able to appreciate the work required to make it fit to house a state-of-the-art Premier League stadium. We have identified all the heritage assets including cobbles, capstones, mooring posts and former tram lines and how we can incorporate them into our plans as far as possible. We have also identified areas of that will require remediation works.
“There is a plan to repair and preserve the dock walls under the stadium, retain the water channel to maintain the interconnectivity of the docks and preserve and restore the hydraulic tower to bring it back into public use. We are working with key cultural and heritage stakeholders to help us deliver this.”
Chong said that “rigorous wind, acoustic and pedestrian modelling” has produced additional measures that will seek to address the challenges of Bramley-Moore Dock being a naturally exposed site. He highlighted that work has particularly focused on ensuring the new stadium delivers a strong matchday experience.
He added: “Taking our learnings from Goodison Park, we’ve been testing the acoustics of our proposed designs to measure how sounds of celebration will travel, reverberate and enhance the atmosphere but still create the sense of intimacy in a larger space. The intention is to contain the noise within the stadium to maximise the atmosphere but also to limit the impact of noise pollution on the surrounding area.”
Image: Everton
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