Professor Lars J. T. Pedersen and Fredrik Barth, CEO of Norwegian firm VILL Architecture have revealed their radical plans for Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed his partial 27.7% investment into United, there has been plenty of debate about what to do with the club’s iconic home. The INEOS billionaire is believed to be keen on a regeneration of the Theatre of Dreams by creating a stadium capable of rivalling the 90,000-seater Wembley in north London.
Trafford Council announced a 15-year plan to regenerate the area around Old Trafford in February. United then confirmed the assembling of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force with Ratcliffe as chair. Other members of the task force include Lord Coe, club legend Gary Neville and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham.
Another option on the table is revamping Old Trafford as opposed to building a brand-new stadium. Neville recently opened up on these two alternatives and explained that the emotional attachment fans and those associated with the Red Devils have towards Old Trafford shouldn’t necessarily be the reason why the prospect of constructing a new stadium is discarded.
The Sky Sports pundit argued that throughout his life, Old Trafford has continuously evolved and changed and the 20-time English champions should be looking to have the best facilities in the country. He mentioned the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the benchmark for United going forward.
A report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that a final decision by the task force on which course of action to pursue is set to be made by the end of the year. The report stated that a number of top architectural firms have put their hat in the ring to be trusted by Ratcliffe with the responsibility of re-shaping Old Trafford.
Pedersen and Barth
Pedersen and Barth, CEO of VILL Architecture, emphasised the importance of connecting Manchester’s identity with the new Old Trafford and having a “circular” stadium that can set the standards in the football industry.
“Circular” in this case does not refer to the shape but means constructing the stadium from upcycled resources – concrete, steel, wood and metals. This would lead to minimal waste and as such, would make Old Trafford extremely eco-friendly and sustainable to an extent that hasn’t yet been seen.
Quotes from Pedersen and Barth
Pedersen said, “I’ve just presented a project on how to make events more circular to a UEFA committee, so how can you basically reduce the waste in stadiums. We actually visited Arsenal to see their work on this, we are visiting Real Sociedad soon, so we have a lot of tentacles going out.
“We’re looking at how to make semi-drunk and drunk football fans act sustainably in the stadiums but also how the football clubs can operate in more sustainable ways.”
Barth remarked, “At Vill Arkitektur, we’ve done a lot of different projects, but big-scale city projects, going into the circular and sustainable direction, has been our speciality.”
He explained that investors have displayed a willingness to get involved in circularity and the results have been incredibly positive.
Berth added about United, “The discussions about Manchester and Old Trafford are visible in Norwegian newspapers and we’ve been talking about this for quite a while. Looking at the new stadiums built for the World Cup, they take architecture into something alien and away from local identity.”
“We started talking about how we could do something about the discussion in Manchester, building a new stadium or refurbishing, how should they do it… Our idea was it should be taken beyond football, to try connect the stadium to the fabric and identity of Manchester.
“If you build it like that, it could be a poke to the blue side of the city that football doesn’t have to be what it’s starting to become. We’re trying to discuss who Manchester United should be as a football club again. What do they stand for? What is their identity? There are fundamental values about United that have maybe been forgotten a bit and that is a shame, in my opinion.”
