New Anfield firm’s US stadium collapse

Feb 12 2008 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE firm which won the contract to build Liverpool FC’s new stadium has launched an investigation after part of another of its projects collapsed.

Texas-based HKS, which was awarded the revised New Anfield project last month, is trying to find out why a university campus stadium it build in America has partially collapsed.

A section of new seats in the Texas Christian University’s Amon Carter Stadium collapsed on Friday, reportedly causing £7m damage.

Lisa Albert, a spokeswoman for the university, said the cause of the collapse was still unknown. “It's too early to know anything," she said. "It will be a thorough investigation."

HKS has launched an immediate investigation into the incident, which occurred when the stadium was empty.

The company has yet to make any other comment.

HKS fought off a rival bid from Manchester-based AFL to win the right to build the 71,000-seater Liverpool stadium on a site in Stanley Park and has recently unveiled its plans for the new ground.

Dallas-based HKS – regarded as Tom Hicks’s favourite firm – revealed its 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 AFL, which was behind a previous set of plans rejected because they were “obsolete”, to create revised schemes.

The club already has permission for HKS’s original 60,000-seater ground, granted in November, 2007.

That design envisaged 60,000 seats, with the option to later expand to 76,000.

In January, the Government decided not to “call in” those designs for scrutiny. However, because of changes to the stadium design – moving the underground car park, shrinking the concourses, and capacity rising to 71,000 – new permissions are needed.

It is understood the club will at first submit a variation to the existing permission, which could allow the work to start within three months.

It would then submit a new application to get consent for the 71,000 seats, requiring an environmental impact study and transport plan.

Owner Hicks is thought to have hoped the revised stadium plans would have appeased fans angry at the way he has treated manager Rafael Benitez.

But fans still seem keen for the American to sell his share in the club, with a bold move by fans to takeover the club currently gaining momentum.

SEE images of the latest de- signs for LFC's new stadium online now at www.liverpool dailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc

SPORT: PAGES 42, 44

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