Architects concept for city centre joint stadium

, Liverpool Echo , 19 September, 36comments  |  Jump to most recent

A firm of architects has drawn up far-fetched plans for a shared stadium for Liverpool and Everton – created by flattening St Johns Shopping Centre.

NWD Architects is behind the bold blueprints, which would see a new city centre ground within touching distance of Liverpool Lime Street station.

It says the left-field proposals would help regenerate the precinct, which is also home to St Johns Market, and attract hotel and leisure developments.

Graham Lewis, senior architect at NWD Architects, said: “We feel that the site is ideal for such a use.

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“Football has always been at the heart of this city and the inclusion of a state-of-the-art stadium in the city centre will ensure that it remains so.

“The site is ideal because of its links with public transport, the railway stations at Lime Street Station and Liverpool Central.

Read the full article at Liverpool Echo



Reader Comments (36)

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Tony Graham
1 Posted 19/09/2014 at 15:26:30
Kings Dock ... still hurts.
Paul Ellam
2 Posted 19/09/2014 at 15:28:44
Shared stadium? Never gonna happen!
Next.
Brian Williams
3 Posted 19/09/2014 at 15:29:58
Ludicrous! Nothing more to say really.
Paul Ferry
4 Posted 19/09/2014 at 15:47:48
A ground next door to Limey? Fabulous.

Flattening the precinct? Absolutely fabulous (biggest eyesore in the City Centre).

Sharing with the shite? Not so fabulous.

Erik Dols
5 Posted 19/09/2014 at 15:44:12
For the people that will come in and support a shared stadium by pointing at international examples:

- In Munich, Bayern and 1860 Munich share a stadium. The "big" club, Bayern, have grown exponentially in commercial/financial sense since they moved. The "little" club, 1860, were crippled by their part of the mortgage and sold their share of the stadium to Bayern for a modest price. They now rent from their neighbours.
- In Turin, Juventus have recently moved to their own stadium and are raking in the profits. Torino stayed at the old ground and are in ill shape financially (although they are in Europe this year).
- In Rome, AS Roma is starting the build of their own stadium next year because they are very dissapointed with the shared stadium. Lazio are also looking into building a purpose-build own stadium.

Milan has the only shared stadium that seems to be a succes. But it has to be said that overall, both AC and Inter have always been top-20 in Europe/the world. Especially the Munich-example frightens me as Bayern has more or less eaten 1860 alive with the new stadium. I do not accept that we are smaller than LFC in the long run. But I do accept that the last 20 years and probably the coming 10 or so as well, they did/will pull in far more money than we do. And that's asking for disaster if you plan to build a shared stadium. It will never be on equal terms.

Therefore, I oppose a shared stadium out of hand.

Tony J Williams
6 Posted 19/09/2014 at 16:26:26
(Cue comedy accent as per Allo Allo)

Interesting, verry verry interestingggg!!

Are the architects American?....does NWD stand for No Way Dude!!!...... see what I did there?

I know, I know, but screw it, it's Friday and almost clocking off time.

Andrew Ellams
7 Posted 19/09/2014 at 16:33:44
Would any major city want that many football fans trawling through it’s centre every weekend and most midweeks too? It would be a nightmare.
Trevor Skempton
8 Posted 19/09/2014 at 16:48:33
Sharing is a dead duck; after considerable thought and investigation, we know the business-case doesn't add up [in terms of both clubs' unique selling points], not to mention the unpopularity with supporters.

The Football Quarter is still the best idea [two stadia, with a shared tourist, transport and community infrastructure] - in theory, this could work with Walton Hall Park, although I believe we should be very careful not to trash what we already have. The atmosphere in Goodison Road, The Winslow and outside St Luke's last night was quite something, and an incremental expansion of Goodison is technically possible, despite the club's claims to the contrary.

Nevertheless, there is still some sense in looking at a central site [as at the Millennium stadium or in Newcastle], where even the biggest crowd is smaller than that dealt with routinely every day by the city centre infrastructure. The actual proposal in the architects' sketch is impractical, but the underlying idea should make people think.

Does a world-class football stadium belong [a] in the city centre, next to theatres, opera houses and cathedrals, [b] out in the quieter suburbs or [c] in a far-flung industrial estate on the edge of town? We missed out on Kings Dock, and the Tunnel Loop was a real possibility, as was Clarence Dock. But this latest sketch could still provide food for thought.

Jon Ferguson
9 Posted 19/09/2014 at 17:23:58
It's obviously never going to happen and I'm not into sharing but a city centre stadium would be amazing. Flattening St John's shopping centre would be an added bonus.
Drew Shortis
10 Posted 19/09/2014 at 17:47:56
The Millennium stadium in Cardiff works extremely well in a central location in the city centre. I'm not keen on the idea of a stadium share, we need our own home!
Mike Keating
11 Posted 19/09/2014 at 18:34:43
Agree with Tony @1

We threw away a golden opportunity at the Kings Dock not just to dominate the city but to make money out of conferencing and concerts (the Echo Arena is a Joke) as well as giving away fans a great day out.

We would actually be playing there now instead of dreaming about Walton Hall Park or redeveloping Goodison sometime in the distant and very expensive future.

James Stewart
12 Posted 19/09/2014 at 19:42:56
No way.
Andy Meighan
13 Posted 19/09/2014 at 19:53:39
Not April 1st is it?
Andrew Sell
14 Posted 19/09/2014 at 20:44:46
This has made me chuckle – Is this a late April Fool or early one?

Er, Liverpool are developing their stadium right now... we have proposals nearby in Walton Hall Park.

Flattening St Johns Centre is a good idea though!

Danny Broderick
15 Posted 19/09/2014 at 21:37:25
Way too ambitious for our current board. Prepare for an Ewood Park style ground if our current board are in charge of making it happen. There won't be anything remarkable about it - they are not interested in investing in us. We'll end up with a stadium that will maximise their potential profit, with no lasting legacy for the future generations.

This article shows what could be done though. Such a shame.

Lev Vellene
16 Posted 19/09/2014 at 21:49:57
Must be nice to have diplomas for knowing the arts and the abstract!

LFC and Everton sharing a stadium? WAY beyond abstract!!!

Everton is British (yeah, I'm not...), but the reason those hordes of Norwegians come to LFC games is because they still think LFC is a British team! And British close rivals don't share grounds. Ever! ...

Let mafia-funded central-/south-Europeans share concrete-built surroundings...

Everton (and GP, despite the bad stuff/views, is still Royal Blue to its foundations!)

Imagine LFC playing a game on Monday, and then on Saturday you still haven't cleared the ground of fatso's grunting 'Liverpool rules!' whenever you nudge them towards a drain??? :D

Lev

Gavin Ramejkis
17 Posted 19/09/2014 at 22:34:10
Sharing will never happen as they don't need us and never will. Unless there is a bumper payday for Green and Earl they will remain completely anonymous. Nice idea but its pie in the sky.
Tony Doran
18 Posted 19/09/2014 at 22:49:25
Okay, if not sharing, what about building our own there? Just suppose we got planning to build there, how long before the Redshite thought sharing was a good idea?
Colin Glassar
19 Posted 19/09/2014 at 22:55:16
Just knock down the shopping centre and forget the rest. Stupid idea.
Mark Andersson
20 Posted 20/09/2014 at 00:19:43
Wow what stupid news to wake up to. I too thought it was a April fool gag. I used to think a ground share would be okay, but over the last few years I've learnt to hate The RS more each day in fact I get up early so I have more time to hate them more.
Nicky Styles
21 Posted 20/09/2014 at 00:28:14
One of the (less) notable problems for me would be the state of the pitch. I don’t follow Italian football but, by March, the San Siro turf must be in pieces.

Erik, little side note about 1860 Munich. I lived in Munich for a while and their fans are deplorable. There is a sizable neo-nazi fanbase associated with the club and the Lions, as they like to call themselves, make no effort to address this problem. So, quite frankly, they can’t fall far enough into oblivion for me. Let Bayern eat them alive.

Eugene Ruane
22 Posted 20/09/2014 at 00:36:32
Flatten St Johns!?

Fuck THAT!

If St Johns is flattened, where are we supposed to go for our 17 nicker adidididas trainees or our 8 nicker Sergio Tackini trackie tops?

Some of you really don't think these things through.

Peter Barry
23 Posted 20/09/2014 at 06:38:21
Why can't this be Everton alone?

Why do we have to have the RS too?

Peter Howard
24 Posted 20/09/2014 at 09:42:32
Well, thatÂ’s one way of getting free advertising for your business!
Peter Howard
25 Posted 20/09/2014 at 09:48:00
Eugene:

And where the fuck I am going to get my chicken-in-a-basket if the Top Rank closes?

Lee Gray
26 Posted 20/09/2014 at 10:36:25
Yeah right....like we share with those dirty bastards!
Roberto Birquet
27 Posted 20/09/2014 at 10:40:00
for knocking down St John's alone, I say aye
Andy Walker
28 Posted 20/09/2014 at 11:36:09
I love the idea of us taking over the St John's site, there's no law saying that it has to be a shared ground, think of the income from hotels and entertainments that could be generated, several pubs built into the ground - sounds good to me.

Or here's an idea ... Who says the Echo Arena has to last for ever? I know it's not old but it's not particularly wonderful so knock it down and build the Kings Dock that we all want, somewhere the city can be proud of. If we have the money for WHP why not spend it on something far better?

John Daley
29 Posted 20/09/2014 at 12:11:14
Superb news.

I've been patiently waiting for construction to start on 'The Derek Zoolander School For Kids Who Can't Read Good & Want To Do Other Stuff Good Too', but I suppose this sure-fire winner in the shape of a shared stadium scheme will have to suffice.

Still, not sure about the location though.

Surely, knocking down St Johns poses a significant risk to public safety with it currently serving as a tightly contained quarantine zone for fucking quid shops.

Mike Keating
30 Posted 20/09/2014 at 12:08:36
Andy – I agree with you on principle but we would have to buy the damn thing first, then demolish it and only at that point be in a position to build the ground we should have gone for in the first place at a fraction of the cost.

The biggest gaff the board ever made IMHO

Dave Lawley
31 Posted 20/09/2014 at 14:44:30
That looks fantastic (sketch on the original article) if that could be achieved (as a standalone Everton ground not a share) I would jizz my pants every time I walked in. There would need to be an oligarch around the corner but bang a 60,000 seater in that location, call it New Goodison and you would need a team of doctors working round the clock to figure out how to get the smile off my face.
Gavin McGarvey
32 Posted 20/09/2014 at 15:43:53
I lived near the San Siro for a year back in the nineties. Great Stadium. Really want to see something like that for us. Not holding my breath mind.
Paul Smith
33 Posted 20/09/2014 at 19:48:32
No chance! I love that Precinct. The smell of leather, Chopped Pork and fish all intermingled with Pasties' from Sayers, Amazing!. I spent many Saturday afternoons in the 80's looking for a pair of Farah keks, Addidas Jeans and Ben Shrman shirts. Never! Over my dead body.

I want a Stadium move as much as anybody, but not at the deter ament of that Precinct.

Oh btw COYB

James Wong
34 Posted 21/09/2014 at 06:49:31
I’m fine with a shared stadium, sharing the cost will ultimately allow us to build a bigger stadium than if we did it on our own.

You need a big stadium to compete with the big boys. Look at Villareal, great team, but they are not a perennial champions league team because their stadium seats only 20,000. You can have one or two great seasons because of your coach or your players but to have long term success you need money to sustain it.

Ron Sear
35 Posted 25/09/2014 at 11:40:48
If our form continues much longer we'll be lucky to share a stadium with Tranmere Rovers.
Lenny Kingman
36 Posted 30/09/2014 at 19:56:44
The Top Rank. Saw Osibisa there in about 1970. It would be music to my ears if something adventurous could happen to the Blues future in a singular sense.

Walton Park, how utterly boring and unimaginative.

Kings Dock was the one but realign the skyline down town I say.


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