Liverpool FC takes back control of £80m Anfield Road project and has appointed a new contractor to finish the work following the collapse of the original builder. Tony McDonough reports
Work has resumed on Liverpool FC’s new £80m Anfield Road stand after the club took back control of the project from collapsed builder Buckingham Group and appointed a new contractor.
Rayner Rowen Construction will take control of the new scheme along with a number of other contractors, to resume the final works.
Work will begin now to fully assess the construction programme and Rayner Rowen will work with the club’s internal team to produce a revised project completion programme. That will offer certainty on capacity and phasing.
In a statement, Liverpool FC said: “We will update on this revised completion programme as quickly as possible. In the meantime, some workers have returned to the site to continue some immediate works.
“For the West Ham United, Leicester City and Union SG fixtures, the capacity of Anfield will be the same as the opening two games of the season against Bournemouth and Aston Villa, meaning the upper tier of the new Anfield Road Stand will remain closed.
“Our ticketing team will be in touch directly with those supporters who will be impacted. All general admission season ticket holders and Members with 13+ credits will continue to be accommodated for our Premier League fixtures.
“Further details on our upcoming cup games will be provided in the selling details when published on our website. Other ticket allocations across the board will remain at a reduced allocation in line with the first two home games of 2023-24.”
On completion of the new stand Anfield’s capacity will rise to 61,000. This will be be incrementally phased in after the next three home games.
The club added: “We do not expect any impact on the continued operation of the existing Anfield Road Stand, which has remained in use throughout the development so far. Our thoughts are with all those employees and contractors who face uncertainty at this time.
“Working with Rayner Rowen Construction, we will seek to engage as many of Buckingham’s existing sub-contractors going forward as we are reasonably able to.”
Buckingham started work on the new stand in September 2021. However, in July the club announced there would be a delay to the full opening of the stand, possibly to October.
In mid-August Buckingham gave notice of intention to appoint administrators which added further uncertainty on the project. And earlier this week the company did finally collapse into administration.
Liverpool has played two matches at Anfield already this season but only the lower tier of the new stand was open to spectators. Although the upper tier is complete more fitting out work is required to allow it to finally open.
Grant Thornton has been appointed administrator of Buckingham which has a turnover of more than £700m. It is likely to lead to the loss of almost 500 jobs.
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The business has sold its rail assets and HS2 contract to construction firm Kier for £9.6m. This move has saved 180 jobs.
Its last reported accounts at Companies House, for 2021, revealed losses of almost £11m. This was partly due to losses on work on another football project, the Riverside Stand at Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage.
Founded in 1987 Buckingham grew thanks to a mixture of rail and stadium work as well as warehouse and logistics projects.