Leeds United substitution: BDP replaces KSS on Elland Road expansion.
BDP will refurbish and expand Leeds United Football Club’s Elland Road stadium, ending KSS’s involvement in the high-profile AJ100 practice.
The Premier League club selected KSS Design Group last year to supervise the stadium redevelopment, which would increase its capacity from 37,645 to 53,000.
Following public and fan discussions in April, May, and June, the sports specialists completed drawings to RIBA Stage 3, and in July they filed a hybrid planning application to Leeds City Council.
The submission contained a detailed planning application for West Stand renovations, including changes to the north-west and south-west corners as part of the original development.
Outline clearance was also requested for the eventual reconstruction of the North Stand and northeast corner.
A month later, the club re-tendered the design position, which the AJ knows drew several bids, including from KSS, AFL, and BDP.
It has been announced that the contract was won by BDP, which has a studio in Leeds.
The firm had already created a masterplan for the land surrounding Elland Road, and its sports section, BDP Pattern, just finished Everton FC’s new 52,888-seat Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.
Luke Harrison, architect director at BDP, stated, “Elland Road is the heart of Leeds United and the city itself.” We recognise how important this club is to its followers and the larger community, which is why we recognise our obligation to leave a legacy here.
‘With our studio team in Leeds currently driving development around the city, we can truly include the stadium extension into our design thinking and push it to the next level.
Our goal is straightforward: to create a stadium that celebrates the club’s past, communicates its story, and provides Leeds United and its fans with a facility that reflects their future ambitions.
Aerial view of Elland Road (March 2020)
In response to the news, David Keirle of KSS stated that the filed planning application based on KSS’s completed Stage 3 design had been’really warmly welcomed by the club, the city, and most crucially by the club’s fans,’ and that the concept will ‘transform this historic stadium’.
According to Keirle, ‘We were astonished to learn in August that the club was intending to retender the final design stages of the project.’
He said that BDP had offered a fee proposal that ‘was considerably cheaper than our own’, albeit the full details of the bids have not been released. BDP and Leeds United have both been asked to comment on this claim.
The architect said, ‘KSS are certainly unhappy that we will not be able to complete the design for our Elland Road Stadium expansion, but we hope BDP will do honour to our well constructed design proposals.’
The Yorkshire club, which was promoted to the Premier League in April, wants to modernise and expand its home stadium to match ticket demand. It stated that it has 26,000 fans on its season ticket waiting list.
When the first photos of the project were revealed this summer, KSS stated that its design’seamlessly merged the timeless traditions of a four-stand stadium with a modern, refined appearance’.
Leeds United’s owners, 49ers Enterprises, announced last year that they had hired professional acoustic consultants ‘to guarantee Elland Road’s unique atmosphere is kept’.
Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.