Bestway enlist top names for alternative Everton stadium plan

Aug 16 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

A CASH and carry chain that wants Everton FC to build a new ground on its land has enlisted the help of the architects behind Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

It emerged last night that the Bestway Group had signed up HOK Sport, one of the world’s leading sports architect firms, to help with the feasibility study into building a new ground on its Loop site off Scotland Road.

They are to be joined by WSP Group – a leading global and award-winning engineering consultancy with a specialist stadium team.

Bestway hope that sign-ing up big-name firms will help convince doubters they are serious in their desire to see Everton FC move to the site. It comes as Everton season ticket holders and shareholders are voting in a ballot to move to a new 55,000-seat ground in Kirkby. Oppo-nents have hailed the Best-way site as an alternative to moving outside the Liverpool boundaries.

But the club have con-sistently said the loop site is too small for a stadium. “The size and stature of these two companies show how serious we are about the project and I know that the City Council shares our determin-ation,” said Bestway’s head of property Malcolm Carter last night.