In this podcast we take a quick tour of Liverpool’s latest landmark, the new Everton Football Club Stadium which is taking shape in an old dock on the banks of the River Mersey.
And having played at their current Goodison Park home ground since it opened in 1892, there will be significant expectation that this new £500M, 52,888 seater stadium will be up to the job - and a venue capable of inspiring the Toffees out of the doldrums and back up the Premier League.
So what does £500M buy you nowadays when it comes to football stadiums. Well for a start, Everton reckons its new glass, brick and steel stadium is going to be the most sustainable in the Premier League and set what it describes as “exciting benchmark for stadium architecture.” Whatever that is!
Certainly it is going to be a catalyst for investment in the local area and in particular in the local public transport system as the club works hard to ensure the majority of supporter can find their way there via public transport.
And a huge effort has been put into ensuring that the design minimises energy use and that 95% of materials on site are recycled during construction and that the historic dockside setting is respected and celebrated in the choice of materials.
But clearly one of the major elements of the project helping to accelerate and improve the construction process, – and set the stadium up for lower operation and maintenance costs over the stadium’s lifespan – is the use of 4D digital design from day one.
This has allowed contractor Laing O’Rourke to truly embrace modular and off-site construction techniques. And, they say, helped save time, energy and carbon.
To be honest, it is an approach that across the global infrastructure sector has, to date, been something of a pipe dream.
So what’s made it possible on this project? Well to find out and hear more about the stadium’s progress, it is my pleasure to welcome
Simon Beards, Principal Planner at Laing O’Rourke, the contractor responsible to constructing this new landmark in the Liverpool skyline.
