Pompey plan new stadium

PORTSMOUTH chief executive Peter Storrie has urged the whole city to get behind the club’s ambitious proposals for a new 36,000-seater stadium on the waterfront.

The Premiership outfit have earmarked a 13-acre site adjacent to the naval dockyards at Portsmouth Harbour to become their eventual home.

Part of the £600m (€880m) redevelopment project – which is a joint venture with Sellar Property Group – will also involve the construction of some 1,500 apartments, as well as restaurants, cafes and other leisure amenities.

Pompey’s current home of 108 years, Fratton Park, would eventually be demolished, with around 750 new houses being built on the site.

However, both the ‘Waterfront Quarter’ – which will have excellent transport links, including ferry ports – and the redevelopment of the old ground are subject to planning permission.

Applications are set to be submitted in the autumn, with Pompey hopeful work could start on the site as early as next summer and the club anticipated to be in their new home for the opening of the 2011 campaign.

The plans are certainly impressive.

They were designed by Swiss-based architects Herzog & de Meuron, who worked on both the Olympic Stadium in Beijing and Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, which hosted the opening match of the 2006 World Cup.

Pompey chief executive Storrie, however, knows there are a few “hurdles” to overcome before the hard hats can be donned for the ground-breaking ceremony.

“This development is important for Portsmouth as a city,” said Storrie. “We now need the people of Portsmouth and the council to come together 100% behind this development, which will create thousands of jobs.”