Cardiff City Stadium

Template:Future stadium The New Cardiff City stadium is a proposed development of a 30,000 seater ground, proposed to be the new home of Cardiff City F.C..

The new stadium will be biult on the site of the nearby Leckwith Athletics Stadium. The project also includes a retail park and requires the rebuilding of the existing athletics stadium at another location. The overall development at Leckwith will cost £100m

Planning

Due to the scale and expense of the project, it has encountered long planning delays, although construction is due to begin in late 2007. Some fans and elements of the media have speculated that the project would not go ahead at all, although since the turn of 2006, there have been many encouraging developments. Tennants signed up for the retail development include:

• Asda - In January 2006, supermarket group Asda agreed development of a 55,000 sq ft store with parking spaces, totalling 92,000 sq ft
• Costco - a retail complex of 135,000 sq ft
• JJB Sports

Joint football/rugby?

Ridsdale and rugby union side Cardiff Blues benefactor Peter Thomas are investigating the potential of a shared stadium. Blues currently play in a restrictive and old stadium on the north side of the Millenium Stadium.

Russell Goodway, the former Cardiff council leader and chief executive of Cardiff Chamber of Commerce, backed the idea of developing a conference centre on the Arms Park site, saying: "I think it is a fabulous idea. It is exactly the right sport for a new generation convention centre which is exactly what Cardiff needs."

Although Cardiff Blues chairman Peter Thomas has spoken of the sporting and commercial rewards for Wales if the Blues and City were to ground-share, there is likely to be opposition from the Cardiff Athletics Club. The club's President, former Wales great Bleddyn Williams, said: "There is no way the Arms Park would be sold, it would be a tragedy." The club, which is a body of sports including bowls hockey and tennis, owns the seven-acre Arms Park site, which is believed to be worth around £15m.

Any development would also allow the Millennium Stadium's North Stand, currently known as "Glanmor's Gap" after Glanmor Griffithsman who delivered the stadium in 1999, to be completed with the addition of 8,000 more seats.

Developers and contractors

The lead developer is PMG Developments, a Cardiff based property developer led by Cardiff City director Paul Guy and former Wales rugby captain Mike Hall.

Laing O'Rourke will be contracted to build all the highway improvements necessary to cope with the increased capacity, as well as the demolition of the Leckwith stadium and the construction of the retail park. Cowlin has been picked as the preferred contractor for the new athletic stadium.

Schedule

Leckwith Road will be widened to a dual carriageway over 18 months, with the scheme allowing for an extra access lane to become available on matchdays.

The plan requires the demolition of the existing Leckwith athletics stadium, which the council are insisting the replacement of is built before the start of construction on the new football stadium. This will avoid the city being without a major athletics facility for up to 11 months between the demolition of Leckwith and the building of a new athletics facility nearby.

But developers have said that the main infrastructure work including highway improvements, drainage, gas supply and electricity cables can be carried out in a way that will allow Leckwith to remain open until July 2007. As an alternate, the developers have offered to pay for the athletes' transport costs to alternative training tracks, allowing demolition of the athletics stadium will occur sooner rather than later.

Work is scheduled to begin on the new athletics stadium in January 2007 with the track and throwing areas expected to be open for use by the end of July 2007. The new athletics stadium is expected to be completed by October 2007 and it is hoped that Cardiff City F.C.'s stadium will open in December 2008, in a motion agreeing the schedule by Cardiff Council on 27 November, 2006.

Detail timetable

• November 2006: Stadium business plan expected to go before Cardiff council for approval.
• November 2006: Three-month period begins for possible legal challenge to deal. The council also has to receive approval from the National Assembly for disposal of the Leckwith land at less than market value.
• Early 2007: Work to start.
• Early Spring 2007: Building of the retail park can be begin along with the major highways works around Leckwith Road.
• Summer 2007: New athletics track scheduled to be finished around the middle of the summer.
• Summer 2007: Contractors Laing O'Rourke move in to begin demolition of existing athletics stadium, followed by building of the football stadium.
• Christmas 2008: Stadium completed. First game targeted for either Boxing Day 2008 or New Year's Eve 2009 - if no slippage in any of the building work.

Name?

Inevitably, the commercial needs for funding will probably mean that the stadium gains a sponsor's name.

The preferred name amongst Cardiff City fans at present is the St David's stadium

See also

• Cardiff Council
• Ninian Park - existing stadium
• Leckwith Stadium - existing athletics ground
• Cardiff Blues

External links

• PMG Developments plc lead developers