Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium expansion project appears poised to be given the green light after Manchester City Council’s planning committee recommended that the plans should be approved.
The recommendation comes ahead of a meeting that is due to be held on July 27. The English Premier League football club in April submitted a planning application to the Council for a proposed expansion of the North Stand at the Etihad Stadium and a 3,000-capacity City Square fan zone. The club also released the first CGI renderings of the plans after concept designs were unveiled in February.
The expanded North Stand will include a larger, single upper tier above the existing lower tier, increasing the overall capacity of the Etihad Stadium from 53,400 to over 60,000. The City Square fan zone will be integrated into the North Stand, which will also house a new club shop, museum, food and drinks outlets, and a 400-bed hotel.
When viewed from Joe Mercer Way, the hotel and food and drinks outlets will be situated on the left side of the development, with all other facilities contained within the right flank. LED screens measuring around four stories high will also feature at the end of each flank.
The planning application was submitted following the conclusion of City’s consultation, which took place between February 28 and March 26 and allowed fans and the local community to share their feedback on concepts and designs.
The club reviewed all the feedback submitted via the consultation questionnaire and confirmed that fans were in favour of the concepts and proposals presented. The proposal was updated to include plans for a sky bar with views overlooking the pitch, along with a stadium roof walk experience.
The planning submission also features modest workspace for use by start-up and medium-sized organisations looking to co-locate and collaborate with the club, City Football Group and Etihad Campus partners.
City said the proposals represent over £300m (€346.8m/$385.9m) investment into East Manchester, with the construction project set to take three years to complete and offer 2,600 jobs, prioritised for people from Greater Manchester.
The application has since received three letters of support, along with five objections. The concerns revolve around the design, specifically in relation to the hotel component, along with the impact of the project on the local community.
A report to the planning committee said: “The (Etihad) Campus’s international profile for sporting events would be enhanced by these facilities and further drive forward the regeneration of East Manchester bringing jobs and economic growth to the area.”
The North Stand is currently the only remaining Etihad Stadium stand with two tiers, following the addition of 6,000 extra seats and a third tier to the South Stand ahead of the 2015-16 season. TheStadiumBusiness.com reported in August that City had commenced exploratory work on expanding the North Stand.
City has played at the Etihad Stadium since 2003, with the facility having been built initially for Manchester’s staging of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The opening date for Co-op Live, a new 23,500-capacity arena under construction at Etihad Campus, was last month pushed back to April 2024.
Co-op Live is a joint venture between Oak View Group and City Football Group.
