Liverpool Football Club has resurrected plans to redevelop its Anfield home.
More than a year after the group shelved plans to extend and regenerate the stadium, the Premiership club this morning said that it had formed a consortium that would enable it to stay at its home of 120 years.
Plans to build a new stadium at nearby Stanley Park have now been scrapped, saving Liverpool FC around £300m.
The football club, with partners Liverpool city council and You Housing, will now undertake a £150m makeover of Anfield stadium, increasing capacity from 45,276 to 60,000-seats, and adding housing, a hotel and other leisure facilities on surrounding land.
Initial plans to regenerate Anfield were shelved in July 2011 after the club said they were unviable, owing to numerous issues, including land purchases.
Negotiations to stay at the current home had been under way since 2010, when the club was purchased by Fenway Sports Group, the company owned by American businessman and Boston Red Sox baseball club owner John W Henry.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “I am delighted that we’ve now reached this milestone. It means we can now work together with confidence to deliver a new era for Anfield. A future of high quality housing, first-class retail and leisure facilities, and at the heart of it all, a world-class football stadium, playing host to one of the world’s most famous clubs.”
It is hoped an initial masterplan will be unveiled by summer 2013, with work on site starting in 2014.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
