Manchester United have made a surprise U-turn on the giant canopy that was intended to adorn their new stadium to replace Old Trafford.
The Manchester Evening News said Manchester United have drawn up fresh plans for the new Old Trafford and removed the canopy from their plans.
Concept images and videos of the club’s 100,000-seater stadium was revealed in March, featuring a vast, umbrella-like canopy – designed to create a modern, sustainable destination alongside a public plaza.
The canopy, supported by three masts, caused controversy when the new designs were revealed earlier this year as it would have been visible from miles around.
Now the club are considering different options for their new stadium and it has been reported that the so-called ‘vast umbrella’ was scrapped due to space constraints.
United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said when the initial designs for the new stadium were revealed, “The brief to Norman Foster here was to build the world’s most iconic football stadium. It had to be a stadium which was recognisable around the world.
“We said to [architect] Norman that we would like a stadium where when anybody in the world sees that stadium, they’ll know it’s Manchester United. It’s more than a new stadium.”
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylized as Man Utd), is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England (UK). They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system.
Old Trafford is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England (UK) and is the home of the Manchester United F.C. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium in the United Kingdom and the 12th-largest in Europe.
The Manchester Evening News further stated that following a review of the new venue’s design, sources have reportedly described the updated drawings as more in keeping with traditional stadium aesthetics.
Discussions are believed to have taken place with Freightliner, which owns much of the land to the west of the current stadium that had been earmarked for part of the new stadium footprint and around 17,000 homes.
While Freightliner is understood to have expressed a willingness to relocate from Trafford Park to nearby St Helens, the company is seeking around £400 million for the land, with United valuing it at between £40-50 million.
But if United now move forward without the canopy, the project would require less Freightliner land, allowing construction to progress more quickly.
Meanwhile, the stadium’s exact location is also under consideration, as each option requires different amounts and configurations of land.
Manchester United believe that the stadium and the wider regeneration project have the potential to deliver an additional £7.3 billion per year to the UK economy.
It would also bring large-scale social and economic benefits to the community and the wider region, including the possible creation of 92,000 new jobs, more than 17,000 new homes as well as driving an additional 1.8 million visitors annually.
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