First look at Manchester Utd’s proposed Old Trafford regeneration on freight terminal site

Foster + Partners has been appointed by Manchester United to develop the masterplan for the new Old Trafford Stadium District although the stadium design itself will not form part of this exercise.

Alongside the new stadium, the masterplan will comprise mixed-use developments aimed at benefitting the local community.

Manchester United owns the land the new stadium will be built on but the plans incur on a Freightliner rail terminal. It has been reported that a deal is being worked on that would see Freightliner relocate this terminal from Old Trafford to Parkside East in St Helens.

The terminal is currently operating at full capacity but Freightliner is said to have been keen to expand to the new St Helens location.

Models for the new stadium were revealed at the Labour party annual conference that is currently ongoing in Liverpool.

Speaking at the conference, mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “The club is currently considering two options, either to refurbish the existing Old Trafford or to build a new stadium alongside it.

“Now I can understand regenerating your old, spiritual home, but sometimes it doesn’t make sense because you can’t have the best stadium in the world when you do that.

“Also you get the disruption of trying to rebuild when you’re still playing at that stadium or you have to relocate away from it.

“That has to be considered against the cost of a new build and that’s what the club is going through at this moment.”

A visual of what the new district could look like

While Burnham is aware the idea of building a new stadium isn’t necessarily favourable with Manchester United supporters, he has said that his team are working with the club to build the new stadium, if it goes ahead, as close to the current ground as possible.

“What I can say to Manchester United supporters is that we want to hep your club, if they are going for a new build, to do it as close to their spiritual home of Old Trafford as possible,” he said.

“I think this could be the single most significant football location in the world and I think it could have the best football infrastructure of anywhere on the planet.”

An economic report commissioned to explore the benefits as part of the regenerated Trafford Park by the club has found the project could deliver an additional £7.3bn per year to the UK’s economy.

Oxford Economics recently undertook a preliminary economic impact assessment of the proposals on behalf of the club estimating the project could contribute huge growth to the UK economy, including the creation of 92,000 new jobs, more than 17,000 new homes as well as driving an additional 1.8M visitors per year.

Manchester United chief operating officer Collette Roche said: “We have a clear vision to transform and revitalise the club-owned land around Old Trafford and we know that Foster + Partners is the best partner to help us develop the plans.

“This is an area of Greater Manchester ready for major new investment so that it can thrive once more, and we are determined to help deliver those outcomes.

“We want this area to become a true destination, that not only provides an unbeatable matchday experience for our fans, but also supports other forms of entertainment, leisure, business and residential facilities surrounding a world-class stadium. Lord Norman Foster has unrivalled experience in delivering projects of this scale and ambition.”

News emerged that the club was investigating the possibility of building the new 100,000 capacity stadium at a cost of over £2bn in July.

Earlier this month it was announced that Manchester United had partnered with local authorities to further advance plans to drive growth and regeneration in the Trafford Wharfside area as part of its new stadium development.

The football club’s legendary Old Trafford stadium has a capacity of 74,310, having been expanded several times since opening in 1910. It has lately shown its age with supporters drenched under waterfalls cascading off the roof of the stands during heavy rainfall.

The club set up an Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force to explore feasibility options for modernising its infrastructure. The task force, which is chaired by Lord Coe and features club legend Gary Neville and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, was convened in March by the club’s new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

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