Revealed: the new Anfield stadium for Liverpool FC

Jan 25 2008 David Bartlett

AMERICAN firm HKS have been officially revealed as the architects of a new 71,000-capacity stadium for Liverpool Football Club.

It comes after the Daily Post exclusively revealed this morning that the firm had been chosen.

An announcement on the £350m refinancing package for co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett is expect to later.

Dallas-based HKS – regarded as Tom Hicks’s favourite firm – revealed their original designs to widespread acclaim in the summer of 2007 but they were dropped last December because of soaring costs.

Hicks and Gillett then asked HKS and Manchester-based AFL, who were behind a previous set of plans rejected because they were “obsolete”, to create revised schemes.

This morning Kop Football Holdings, owned by Hicks and Gillett, said the selection of HKS was based on the firm’s successful development of an “improved stadium design that meets the objective of a cost-effective, supporter-friendly design”. 

Hicks said: “HKS has developed a more efficient design that, at the same time, is just as stunning as its original design.

“Liverpool supporters should have high expectations for the future: a premier sporting experience at their new stadium at Stanley Park and a winning Club on the pitch for years to come.”

The firm added: “The new stadium, scheduled to open in August 2011, will ensure that Liverpool Football Club and its supporters get the much-anticipated groundbreaking iconic design at a capacity of approximately 71,000 seats, significantly more than is currently available at Anfield. 

“The new stadium will feature enhanced amenities for the club’s supporters while preserving the history and traditions of Anfield and the club itself. 

“It will be anchored by an expanded 18,500-seat standalone Kop, an increase of more than 5,000 seats.”

New-York based KUD International have been appointed as project managers for the stadium.

The US firm has a London office but will establish a Liverpool office to oversee the scheme.

KUD has developed projects globally, including London’s Silvertown Quays, a large-scale mixed use scheme, as well as collegiate and professional stadiums in the United States including the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field and the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.

Laing O’Rourke, currently working with Grosvenor on the Liverpool One development, has also joined.