Anfield Road Stand work continues at pace

Article posted by Coliseum, July 28^th, 2023

Image: Liverpool FC

The Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England (UK) is preparing for the opening of its new stand for the Liverpool F.C.’s first home game of the Premier League campaign against their peer team A.F.C. Bournemouth on August 19^th.

‘Liverpool FC’ further stated that work started on the new Anfield Road Stand in September 2021 to increase the stadium’s capacity to 61,000. Since then, the ambitious project has been building at pace, with not one seat lost during the 2022-2023 seasons.

The Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England (UK), which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool since their formation in 1892.

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The Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation.

The A.F.C. Bournemouth is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of the English club football. Formed in 1899 as Boscombe, the club adopted their current name in 1971. The 11,379-capacity Vitality Stadium acts as their home ground.

‘Liverpool FC’ further stated that once complete, the new stand will also directly create 400 additional jobs, growing the average matchday workforce to 2,800 people, with 95 percent of those directly employed locally.

The Buckingham Group, the main contractor of the new Anfield Road Stand, has confirmed that although the existing stand will be open and operational for ‘The Reds’ first home game of the season, the new upper tier will remain closed for the time being. It is anticipated that the additional capacity will be incrementally phased in during the course of future home fixtures.

The Buckingham Group Contracting Limited is a construction company located near Stowe, between Buckingham and Silverstone in North Buckinghamshire which operates throughout England and Wales (UK). Established originally in 1955 as the Buckingham Plant Hire, it incorporated in November 1987 as the Buckingham Group Contracting Limited.

Following the Bournemouth game, Buckingham plans to increase the capacity, using the upper tier as part of the phased opening process which it expects to be completed in October 2023.

Said Andy Hughes, Managing Director, Liverpool F.C., “This has been a hugely ambitious and complex construction project right from the start and I would like to thank everyone who has played a part. Unfortunately, the upper tier of the Anfield Road Stand is not quite ready for the Bournemouth game. The main contractor, Buckingham, will, therefore, work with the Liverpool City Council’s licensing team to deliver a phased opening process. As with any complex major construction project of this scale, there are always so many variables and challenges along the way. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while we work through the next few weeks with Buckingham to complete this program and we can’t wait to have this great new Anfield Road Stand fully open for the supporters.”

This is a similar process to when the club opened its new Main Stand in September 2016. The Liverpool F.C. played their first three games of that season away from home and opened parts of the stand in phases.

Tickets for the fixture against Bournemouth will be available to Members with 13+ credits only. There will not be a Members’ ballot for this game. The Members’ sales will commence on August 8th with further details on other sales for Bournemouth and all home fixtures before Christmas to follow soon.

This is the fourth major capital build project undertaken by the Liverpool F.C. in recent years, following the build of the new Main Stand in 2016, the Anfield Megastore in 2017 and the opening of its state-of-the-art AXA Training Centre in 2020. A fifth capital project was recently announced with the repurchase of Melwood, which will be the new state-of-the-art training center for Liverpool F.C. Women.

The Liverpool Football Club, commonly referred to as Liverpool or Liverpool Football Club Women, if distinguishing themselves from the men’s team, is a professional English women’s football team based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England (UK). They have served as the official women’s division of the Liverpool Football Club since 1994. The 16,587-capacity Prenton Park in Birkenhead, England, serves as their digs.

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