Contractors working on Everton’s new £500m stadium on Liverpool waterfront have reached a major milestone with part of the super-structure of the arena now erected. Tony McDonough reports
Work on Everton’s £500m stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool waterfront has reached a major milestone with the building of the first section of the super-structure now erected.
Main contractor on the project at Liverpool Waters, Laing O’Rourke, broke ground in August and began enabling works on the site. In mid-November they announced the infill of the Grade II-listed dock was approaching the three-quarters mark.
Giant pre-cast concrete panels and pillars have been installed this week, just prior to the enabling and construction works breaking for Christmas. They are the first structural elements of the North West core. This will incorporate the entrance turnstiles to the North Stand and create support for the entry and exit stairs up to the concourse areas.
Three twin-wall sections and one structural column, delivered from the contractor Laing O’Rourke’s off-site manufacturing facility, have been housed on one of the first completed foundations on the north quayside of the development.
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The dock, which is now infilled with around 480,000 cubic metres of sand, will also see the completion of the sand compaction process this week. Work is also continuing to repair the Grade II-listed tower on the site, a significant heritage asset that had fallen into dereliction.
The entire build is scheduled to take around 150 weeks in 12 separate phases. The initial enabling works are expected to take 32 weeks and are being funded by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. The club has yet to announce funding to complete the project. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is also putting up to £45m into the scheme.
Everton aims to move out of Goodison Park and kick off the 2024/25 Premier League season in the new 52,888-capacity stadium. It will also create a legacy project around the Goodison site offerign a number of new community facilties.
Colin Chong, director of stadium development at Everton FC, said: “We are ecstatic to see the first signs of the stadium appear above ground level before Christmas.This is a symbol of the progress we have made to date and is very much a statement of intent for the future.
“Less than six months ago we were still infilling the dock and now that process is complete. We have also been able to bring forward an important milestone of building above ground for the first time as the section of stadium’s North Stand core structure is in place.
“We are looking forward to 2022 where we’ll continue piling, putting in place the foundations for our new home, while also continuing to erect the stadium structure in the North and eventually the Southern wharfs.”
After tests have been done to confirm the completion of the sand-compacting process, a new 450 – 600mm deep temporary roadway – made up of reclaimed materials – will be laid on the solid sand base in the new year. This will allow for heavy machinery to begin the piling process on the east and west elevations.
A total of 2,500 piles will be drilled across the site, each one around 16-20m deep, which will eventually be capped to form the sub-structure for the stadium to take shape during 2022.