Everton have confirmed the costs of their proposed stadium at Bramley Moore dock have “escalated significantly” and they now intend to move for the start of the 2022-23 season.
The club last month agreed a 200-year lease on the waterfront site with the owners Peel Land and Property Limited, conditional on planning consent and securing funding for the construction. Funding and planning permission are expected to be in place in early 2018, along with publication of the stadium designs by Meis Architects, but Everton will have to borrow significantly more than the initial £300m projected costs of their new home.
Robert Elstone, the club’s chief executive, confirmed the funding target “has escalated significantly and has occupied much of our efforts of the past 12 months. The premium for the waterfront site, an ambitious capacity that we will test with more rigour, a design we can all be proud of and the simple but painful impact of inflation, have all contributed to an increased overall cost and a funding target which continues to grow.”
Writing in the match programme for the New Year’s Day game against Manchester United, Elstone also announced preparatory works on the dockland area “add a one-fifth premium to the cost of the Bramley Moore Dock site”. However, he added: “We believe the commercial returns from naming rights, sponsorship, higher attendances and greater use on non-matchdays will recoup that premium.”
Liverpool city council announced in March that it was to create a special purpose vehicle to secure the loan for Everton’s new stadium, with the Premier League club paying off the loan plus a fixed security fee to the local authority worth over £4m per year. Those terms may change, with Everton obtaining funds directly from a financial institution, although Elstone admits the final arrangement has yet to be agreed.
He explained: “It’s a challenge that has always had the full support of Liverpool city council and throughout 2017 we have been totally committed to finding a funding arrangement that works for the club and the city. We have needed to be patient as we work together to ensure the ‘checks and balances’ that underpin such a deal are in place and whilst we ‘detoured’ temporarily pursuing the prize of hosting the Commonwealth Games, as we start the new year, both parties feel we are near to agreeing a framework that works.”
Elstone’s progress report suggests the stadium’s capacity will be significantly higher than Goodison’s limit of 39,572 but also a delay to the opening date. Liverpool city council had wanted the ground to be open before the 2022 Commonwealth Games but lost out to Birmingham in its bid to host the tournament.
“It is a process not without challenge,” Elstone said. “Bramley Moore Dock sits within a world heritage site with several historically significant features and our designs must respect the heritage and culture of the city’s northern docks. Our planning case will be enhanced with impressive legacy plans for our existing home at Goodison Park. Our hope, and our target, is the opening game of the 2022-23 season. Be assured that all our efforts during 2018 will be focused on meeting this challenging but achievable target.”
