Liverpool Waters land deal paves way for Meis Architects and Sheppard Robson project
Everton FC has inked a deal with Peel Land and Property that lays the ground for the development of a new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock, part of the Liverpool Waters development area.
The struggling Premier League club has long been looking to relocate from its 40,000-capacity Goodison Park base and has been working with Meis Architects and Sheppard Robson on proposals for a new ground.
Most recently Everton sought to create a new stadium at Walton Hall Park, near its current ground, but earlier plans envisaged a waterfront stadium at King鈥檚 Dock, where Liverpool鈥檚 Echo Arena now stands.
The latest deal, agreed between Everton and Peel, gives the club a 200-year lease on Bramley Moore Dock, conditional on gaining planning consent.
Club chief executive Robert Elstone said the move was 鈥渧ery positive news鈥� that was essential for finalising funding for the project with Liverpool City Council and submitting a planning application 鈥� both of which he said Everton hoped to do 鈥渋n the New Year鈥�.
Neither Meis Architects nor Sheppard Robson have released images of their proposals for Bramley Moore Dock.
But in September, Meis founder Dan Meis said the identification of the site for the stadium was 鈥渢ruly inspired鈥�, despite the constraints of Liverpool waterfront鈥檚 UNESCO World Heritage site status.
鈥滻 believe that the historic fabric of the dock is a priceless asset that will help inform a state of the art stadium unlike any other on the planet, and one that will capture the magic and memory of Goodison Park,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 am striving for a design that feels like it 鈥榞rew from the docks鈥� and one that can simultaneously look like it is from the future and yet has always been there.
鈥淚nnovation doesn鈥檛 always mean that a building has the latest bells and whistles, it can often be when a design is reduced to the very essence of its function.鈥�
Liverpool Waters assistant project director Ian Pollitt said a world-class stadium on the banks of the Mersey would be a trigger for even more investment and jobs.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been working very closely with all partners to get to this stage and we鈥檙e excited to move on to the next phase of the project,鈥� he said.
Liverpool Waters was masterplanned by Chapman Taylor and Peel values the project at 拢5.5bn.
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