Everton’s plans for a new £500m home take significant step forward

Everton’s plans to move into a new stadium have taken a significant step forward.

Former Laing O’Rourke project leader Colin Chong has been appointed stadium development director and will oversee the work on the proposed £500m stadium at Bramley-Moore Bock.

Chong has long track record working on sports ground and worked on the redevelopment of Old Trafford and the Manchester Commonwealth Games stadium – which is now the home of Manchester City.

He also worked on Wigan’s DW stadium.

Plans for the move have been on the table for several years but it is still unclear where the funding will come from.

Chong joined Everton from O’Rourke in 2016 as Head of Estates at Goodison Park.

He told Construction Enquirer: “I feel privileged to have the opportunity to play a key role in the delivery of what will be a great project, not only for Everton Football Club but also for the city of Liverpool.

“The club has already done a huge amount of work to get us to our current position, spending millions of pounds to make sure that any scheme we develop is right for the club and our fans, that the design principles are right and, crucially, that it’s affordable.

“This is a long and complex process, but we have put together a well-resourced team of internal staff and consultants to ensure we are able to drive this forward effectively.”

Denise Barrett-Baxendale

Everton Chief Executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale added: “Whilst we have made progress on our plans for Bramley-Moore Dock – as well legacy plans for the Goodison Park site – there is a lot of detailed and complex work to do to enable our move to happen.

“Colin has extensive experience in delivering stadiums and other large-scale capital projects and, together with our strengthened internal team and a best-in-class team of external advisers, we now have all the resource and expertise we need in place as we move towards the crucial planning phases.

“A key part of Colin’s remit will be to ensure that we consult fully with all groups on both schemes – including finalising designs and capacity and developing the best possible legacy for Goodison Park – and we are entirely committed to doing this.

“I’d like to thank all fans for their support and patience to date and hope that they see this appointment as a positive sign of our ambition to move to Bramley-Moore Dock as soon as we possibly can.”