Liverpool FC takes back control of £80m Anfield Road project and is set to appoint a new contractor to finish the work following the collapse of the original builder. Tony McDonough reports

Work will soon resume on Liverpool FC’s new £80m Anfield Road stand after the club took back control of the project from collapsed builder Buckingham Group.

Buckingham started work on the new stand in September 2021. When complete it will increase the stadium’s capacity to 61,000. 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 now 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.

While Liverpool FC has yet to comment, on Thursday there were several media reports claiming that some workers were on site at the new stand. It is understood Liverpool is now engaging with a number of firms with a view to finishing the job.

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.