Manchester United have unveiled flashy plans for a huge new stadium to replace their current home at Old Trafford, but it looks like the stadium won’t be breaking ground for some time yet.
(Image: PA)
Manchester United aim to submit a planning application for a new £2bn stadium within the next 12 to 18 months. The Red Devils announced plans for their new home in March last year.
It will be built on the same site as the current home of Old Trafford, and the local area will also be regenerated within the plans. However, there have already been some delays in the rebuilding process.
United Airlines is in talks with Freightliner over a nearby cargo terminal, which is in the middle of a new project. Discussions are also taking place between the club and construction companies keen to complete such a large-scale project.
Club leaders have now provided a new update on the new stadium, with concrete targets set for when construction begins. Colette Roche, CEO of the new stadium development, gave her opinion at the Cannes property fair.
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She said, “The plan is to reach land assembly, which is an important milestone, within the next few months.”
Roche confirmed it would take seven months to complete the detailed design of the stadium. She added: “We’re spending a lot of time with local councils talking about what your ambitions are, how many homes you want and where best to put them. Hopefully by the time we get the planning application in 12 to 18 months, we’re not starting from scratch.”
“We are going through a process to ensure we have the best team in place, working in the same way as us and taking on the challenges and ambitions,” she said of potential stadium construction companies. “Then we’ll finalize that. Then we’ll start making plans. It starts now.”
Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a driving force behind Old Trafford’s redevelopment, and even before the plans were announced he was calling it the ‘Wembley of the North’.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the driving force behind Manchester United’s new stadium plans (Image: Getty Images)
He said: “In my opinion, having a stadium in the north is a very good example of serving the north of the country in terms of football. If you look at the number of times the North West has won the Champions League, it’s 10 times. London has won it twice.”
“Still, everyone in the north has to go to London to watch a big football match, and in my opinion there should be one[big stadium]in the north as well.
“But it’s also important that the south side of Manchester regenerates. Manchester is like the second capital of the country where the industrial revolution began.
“But when you do a regeneration project, you need a core project or a regeneration project, and I think having a world-class stadium there will give you the impetus to regenerate that area.”
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