Everton sets out ‘ALL’ vision for new stadium

English Premier League club Everton has shed further light on its ambition to create a “revolutionary re-set of traditional football hospitality” at its new stadium, along with setting out the future timeline for the project.

The announcements came as Everton unveiled the logo and launched the official website – evertonstadium.com – and associated social media accounts for its new 52,888-capacity home, along with providing fresh renderings and project progress photos.

Yesterday’s (Thursday’s) news came after Everton on Wednesday announced that the first concrete terracing unit has been installed at its new stadium, one year after work began on the project. Contract partner Laing O’Rourke also confirmed that work on building the stadium’s four concrete cores to their full height had been completed.

Everton staged a project commencement ceremony for its new £500m (€591m/$612m) home, currently dubbed Everton Stadium, on August 10, 2021. Everton last week introduced ‘ALL’ as the concept for its hospitality offering at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool.

ALL will bring together the bars, restaurants and experiences that will be available at Everton Stadium, with the club Everton in February commissioning venue specialist Forward Associates to create new fan experiences at its new stadium.

Forward Associates has been working with Everton to design match-day hospitality packages and experiences, with ALL part of the effort to create a more inclusive offer to supporters. ALL will offer a wide range of fan experiences, from traditional pubs and sports’ bars through to high street style restaurants and opulent fine-dining.

Forward Associates was founded by Roy Westwood, who is engaged as a senior design consultant on the Everton Stadium project. Speaking of the vision behind ALL, Westwood said: “For us, ‘ALL’ is not just hospitality: it’s more than hospitality.

“Often, there is a ‘them and us’ associated with it, but what we wanted to create was something for everybody. That was at the centre of our approach to everything we did. It was about breaking all those social barriers and ensuring that we understood that everybody was a fan; it’s just that different fans want different experiences.

“It was our responsibility to work out how to create the different experiences that they embrace in their everyday life and bring it to the matchday ritual.”

Everton Stadium’s waterfront location, a mile north of the city centre, makes the site, and its introductory Fan Plaza, a hub for over 52,888 supporters on a matchday. In the coming months the experiences planned through ALL will be brought to life through an ‘Experience All Showroom’ at the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, which will showcase the range of bars, restaurants, lounges and boxes at Everton Stadium.

Westwood added: “All of the experiences touch the heritage of the stadium location. They also touch the heritage of the football club and bring that all to life in the many restaurants, bars, lounges and experiences that have been created for the multitude of fans who will enjoy them on matchday.

“Not only have we created an array of hugely unique experiences, but we have also ensured that those can be purchased on a seasonal, or occasional basis; therefore allowing different fans to utilise them in different ways.”

In March, Everton maintained its full commitment to the construction of its new home after the club posted losses of more than £100m for the third consecutive year. Regarding the future timeline for the project, Colin Chong, chief stadium development officer, said: “We are nearly one third of the way through the build, but we are not patting ourselves on the back or resting on our laurels.

“We still have a couple of winters to get through and in the meantime we need to get a lot of the high-level lifting activities done whilst the weather allows. As you’d expect, we, we can’t operate at high levels with strong winds.

“But we have analysed a lot of historical weather data to make predictions and plans, and Laing O’Rourke have a lot of data from their previous projects as to when weather conditions require them to suspend lifting activity to ensure operations are completed safely. This insight allows us to build accurate timelines for the project.”

Chong continued: “The first terracing units have gone on to the steelwork and that alone will start to create a visual change as the gaps between steel are filled with concrete and the stadium’s bowl takes shape.

“Supporters will probably be able to see the whole upper tier of concrete terracing installed in the next six months, apart from the East Stand which is used for site access and will be the last to complete. The lower tier terracing units will follow, once the roof steel is in place.

“The roof will no doubt be the most visual milestone moment. I am conscious that we are hostages to fortune with the wind. These are huge, expensive pieces of steel and aluminium cladding, manufactured in segments and they need installing in a certain sequence, starting with the north and south stands. I imagine we will start to see sections of the roof in place in the spring of next year.

“The East and West stands are predominantly concrete builds, and they give stability to the whole scheme, so they will take longer to complete than the North and South. Then you have all the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services in those stands, so eventually, around a year from now, we will reach a point where, from the outside, few changes will be visible, as all the work will be going on inside.

“Finally, the latticed brickwork that will form the external façade will start to be erected, possibly later this year and in various locations. By the time the external façade is in place, people will really begin to be able to make out the final form that our jaw-dropping new stadium will take.”

Everton Stadium is due to be completed in time for the 2024-25 season.

Images: Everton FC