Practice confirmed as lead architect on stadium described by co-owner Jim Ratcliffe as the “greatest in the world”
Manchester United FC has unveiled plans to replace Old Trafford with the UK’s largest stadium and confirmed Foster + Partners as the £2bn scheme’s lead architect.
The club has published the first images of the much-anticipated scheme this morning, showing a 100,000-seat stadium surrounded by three 200m-tall spires and sitting at the centre of a sprawling mixed-use development.
It comes after a lengthy consultation period during which the club has been weighing up whether to refurbish the existing 115-year-old Old Trafford ground or build an entirely new one.
The announcement confirms the club has chosen the latter option, with the club’s co-owner Jim Ratcliffe promising the scheme would create “the world’s greatest football stadium”.
“Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport,” he said.
“By building next to the existing site, we will be able to preserve the essence of Old Trafford, while creating a truly state-of-the-art stadium that transforms the fan experience, only footsteps from our historic home.”
Designs by Foster & Partners, which has also masterplanned the district around the stadium, show the stadium building topped by an umbrella-like netting and facing a public square which would by double the size of Trafalgar Square.
The three spires, known as “the trident”, will be visible from more than 25 miles away, according to the firm.
Practice founder Norman Foster said: “This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today, with incredible regional and national significance. It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar.”
He said the site would be the “beating heart” of a new sustainable district, expected to contain around 15,000 homes, which would be a “mixed-use miniature city of the future – driving a new wave of growth and creating a global destination that Mancunians can be proud of.”
>> See also: As Manchester United’s new investor looks at Old Trafford rebuild, questions begin over who would do it
>> See also: To refurb or rebuild: what next for Old Trafford?
Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson added: “Manchester United should always strive for the best in everything it does, on and off the pitch, and that includes the stadium we play in.
“Old Trafford holds so many special memories for me personally, but we must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.”
Feasibility work for the scheme was completed in January by the Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce, a group consisting of Ratcliffe, Gary Neville, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and chaired by Sebastian Coe.
Coe said the new stadium would be the “biggest and most exciting urban regeneration project in the UK” since the 2012 London Olympic Games, for which he had played a leading role as chair of its organising committee.
Burnham added: “If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012. Manchester United could, and indeed should, have the best football stadium in the world.
“To me, that means a stadium that is true to the traditions of the club, affordable to all, with nobody priced out, and a stadium that sets new standards in the game globally. I believe this vision can be realised, and if so, the benefits for Greater Manchester, the north west and the country will be huge.”
Criticism of the existing Old Trafford, which has not seen any new development since 2006, has grown in recent years despite the building’s heritage and symbolic value for the club.
One source told Building three years ago, when plans were first mooted about rebuilding the stadium: “I worked on Old Trafford, it is a cheap nasty series of buildings. It looked cheap then and looks embarrassing now. The architecture is horrific. There is nothing that can be done to refurbish this stadium in my view, it is a complete rebuild job. Not on this site, it is too close to the railway. Build it close by.”
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