The six design teams in contention to land the contract to develop Danish Superliga team AGF’s new stadium have been issued with the conditions they will need to meet.
The City of Aarhus last month selected six teams of architects and studios to submit final proposals for a new football stadium.
The stadium is due to open in 2026 and be located within the existing Aarhus Sports Park close to Aarhus Bay and the Marselisborg Woods. The stadium will form part of the wider ‘Vision Kongelunden’ regeneration programme, which aims to redevelop the Aarhus Sports Park as a new sustainable recreational zone for locals.
The six teams have now been told that the stadium’s budget is DKK 585m (£65.8m/€78.6m/$89.2m). Proposals need to be submitted for a 20,000-seat venue, expandable to 24,000 with the addition of standing terraces. A provision for a further 2,000 seats must also be made.
Alvaro Arriagada, director of the Kongelunden project, said: “It will be extremely exciting to see how the six teams will each translate the competition program into a concrete project proposal. The level of the participants is very high, and so are our expectations for how they answer the task and therefore which winning project we can present later in the year.”
Earlier this week, AGF announced that it would double its financial contribution to the project, raising its investment to DKK 100m. The club stressed that this extra money was on the condition that it be primarily used to ensure the new stadium had state-of-the-art VIP and conference facilities.
Jacob Nielsen, administrative director of AGF, said: “We have been very much looking forward to the first guidelines being drawn for the city’s new football stadium.
“With the competition program, a good starting point has been created for the six teams that have been selected to participate in the competition, and the program must now be solidified into a finished project that suits Aarhus and the ambitions we all have for the city.
“For us, it is important that it becomes a well-functioning stadium that creates a unique framework for the entire football experience, and we look forward to seeing what the six teams come up with.”
In order to maintain focus on a strong football experience throughout the process, a fan panel will be established, which will follow the project more closely. The six pre-qualified teams must submit their project in the spring, after which the assessment process will begin, possibly followed by a negotiation process.
It is expected that a winning proposal will be selected by the autumn. AGF currently plays at Aarhus Idrætspark, which is comprised of a 19,400-capacity stadium (pictured) and an arena.
Image: Visit Aarhus
