Work on Everton FC’s £500m stadium will enter a ‘transformative phase’ in 2023 with hundreds of miles of tubes to carry beer set to be installed. Tony McDonough reports
Hundreds of miles of ‘beer pythons’ to supply the hospitality lounges at Everton’s new £500m stadium with beer will be installed in 2023.
Work on the arena at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool Waters began in summer 2021. In the second half of 2022 the main stadium shape appeared on the skyline as main contractor Lang O’Rourke started to build the stands.
However, Everton’s chief stadium development officer, Colin Chong, said on Monday that the external view will change less in 2023 as internal work accelerates. He explained the “race is on” to make the build watertight to allow the installation of piping and wiring.
In particular, workers will begin installing hundreds of miles of so-called beer pythons. These are the tubes that will carry beer to the multiple hospitality venues being built inside the stadium. They help to keep the beer cool before it is delivered into the glass.
“I think we should just warn spectators that in 2023 it will look like things are slowing down from an external perspective,” said Colin.
“A big milestone that people will want to see is the east stand steelwork that will fill in the gap between the north and south steelwork. However, it will slow down externally, although internally it’s going to be a hive of activity.
“In real terms, the fit-out is starting in January, when we will start putting all the wires and piping in. People won’t notice it as much, as it’s internal, but it’s equally as important to the stadium development as the roof going up.”
With a planned 150-week build Everton hopes the 52,888-capacity stadium will be ready in time for the start of the 2024-25 Premier League season.
As with the external concrete and steel components, much of the internal walls are pre-manufactured in a factory and transported to site in just-in-time slots for installation.
All mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the stadium will be manufactured off-site in the Oldbury (West Midlands) factory of Laing O’Rourke’s specialist MEP business, Crown House Manufacturing.
Six-foot high modules and a product called Techwall, will be delivered to site, lifted into place, connected and commissioned, in an approach that helps save time and energy.
“There are life-safe systems, resilience to be planned, and all the toilets on the concourses will be coming in in modules, pre-manufactured,” added Colin.
“The pipework will arrive pre-manufactured, tested in the factory, and be offered up and connected, so there are less connections throughout the whole building. There’s less welding, so less risk of fire and it’s the modern way of building things.
“Again, we’ll be working on all four concourses simultaneously, along with the hospitality lounges starting, probably in March. The skeleton of the dressing rooms is already in place (in the west stand). We’ve got the pit for the hydrotherapy pools and all the apertures for all the incoming services.
READ MORE: Everton stadium could host Euro 2028 games
READ MORE: Everton asks fans to ‘design your own matchday’
“There are hundreds of miles of beer pythons that have to go in at some point and they’ll all start to go in this year. We ramp up with people and we’ll end up with 1,000 people there next year and probably up to around 1,400 on site the year after.
“There’s a whole host of things going to happen next year, but not a lot of people are going to notice it because it’s going to be hidden.”