A new 100,000-seat stadium that will be the largest in the UK. A venue covered in a “vast umbrella” that would exceed the scale of Christo’s wrapping of the Reichstag in 1995. A trident of masts, the tallest of which is higher any other building in Manchester. Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s vision for a new Old Trafford is taking shape, and the ambition extends beyond the “Wembley of the North”.
On Tuesday designs were unveiled for Manchester United’s proposed new home, to be built on the site of the Old Trafford car park. The project was initiated by a call from Ratcliffe to Norman Foster and scoped out by a taskforce led by Sebastian Coe, and the cast list endorsing it is gold-plated. At a projected cost of £2bn, and to be assembled using prefabricated “modules” shipped down the Manchester ship canal, it could be delivered in five years, the architects suggest. Foster + Partners hopes to begin work this year and United are aiming to move into the new stadium for the 2030-31 season.
For Ratcliffe, the United co-owner, the new Old Trafford is designed to grab the attention of the world and rebalance sporting infrastructure in favour of the north of England. “I think a really good example is the Eiffel Tower,” he said by way of comparison. “Everyone around the world knows the Eiffel Tower: you go to Paris, you stay in Paris, you spend money. We have 1 billion people around the world who follow Manchester United. I think everybody in the world who’s interested in football will want to visit Old Trafford.
“The north of England has won 10 Champions League medals, and London has won two, but London’s got Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon and the Olympic Village. I think the north of England deserves to have a stadium where England can play football, where we can hold a Champions League final. If the government really gets behind this regeneration scheme then, with Norman Foster’s vision, in my view the greatest architect in the world, we will build an iconic football stadium.”
That the government should commit wholeheartedly to a broader Trafford regeneration project was a consistent theme in Ratcliffe’s remarks. In January the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she backed plans for the regeneration of the Old Trafford area, though she did not explain how the government would support it. Ratcliffe was not specific on why government involvement was so necessary. According to United’s chief executive, Omar Berrada, while no public money would be used to build the new arena “the stadium in isolation doesn’t make sense without the wider regeneration project”.
A spokesperson at 10 Downing Street later said of the government’s possible commitment: “The [stadium] proposals involve significant investment and could generate 90,000 jobs and a significant boost to the economy. It’s only been announced today, so we are unsure as to the amount yet. I’m not aware of any government support that has been committed to the project.”
Mocked-up images of the stadium and its environs show a cast of visitors from across the world enjoying themselves inside the stadium and outside it, bouncing between bars and cultural venues under the sprawling 126,000 sq metre canopy that will cover a new commercial quarter. Lord Foster’s “vast umbrella” is advertised as offering possibilities for solar-generated power as well as the reuse of rainwater, although the material from which it will be made is yet to be confirmed.
Other notable aspects of the design include a pitch 15.9 metres below ground level, 15.5% of seats being turned over to hospitality (3% more than at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium), and the three masts that flank the perimeter of the site. With a viewing station installed in the tallest, 200m, tower the new Trafford towers will be a landmark visible from the outskirts of Liverpool “in optimum conditions”, according to a briefing document.
According to Foster, the stadium will be “outward looking” and “the beating heart of a new sustainable district”. The whole site “will be completely walkable, served by public transport, and endowed by nature”, he said. “It is 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.”
The Old Trafford regeneration taskforce, which includes Ratcliffe, Gary Neville and Andy Burnham, as well as Coe, says it consulted more than 50,000 people in preparing its proposals. According to Coe, 1,200 of those were local residents whose responses were “overwhelmingly positive” in terms of “what they see can be the changes to that community, to jobs, to houses, to visitor values, to the very nature of ambition, particularly amongst young people in what we know to be one of the hardest-pressed areas”. For Coe the regeneration has “the potential to be bigger” than the one he presided over as chief of the London 2012 Olympics.
Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, also welcomed the opportunities from redevelopment and the statement a state-of-the-art stadium would make. But he also warned the new Old Trafford should “be 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”.
These sentiments were echoed by the Manchester United Supporters Trust, which said the plan invited more questions than it gave clear answers. “Whilst investment is much needed and welcome, fans remain anxious about what it means and what the consequences will be,” a statement said.
“Will it drive up ticket prices and force out local fans? Will it harm the atmosphere, which is consistently fans’ top priority in the ground? Will it add to the debt burden which has held back the club for the last two decades? Will it lead to reduced investment in the playing side at a time when it is so badly needed? We look forward to further consultation with supporters and discussing these vital questions with the club.”
