Salford Stadium, Developer, Red City, Manchester, RLFC Project, Barton-upon-Irwell Development

City of Salford Stadium : Barton-upon-Irwell

Rugby League Building in northwest England, UK – design by AFL Architects

9 Apr 2008

Salford Stadium

THE CITY OF SALFORD STADIUM DESIGN TEAM

AJ Bell Stadium is a rugby ground in Barton-upon-Irwell

Address: 1 Stadium Way, Eccles M30 7LJ

Phone: 0844 844 8400

Capacity: 12,000

Completed: 2012

Teams: Manchester United F.C. Reserves and Academy + Sale Sharks

AJ Bell Stadium is a rugby stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, Salford, England. It was built to replace Salford rugby league club’s ground at The Willows for the start of the 2012 season.

Work on the City of Salford Stadium got underway last month on the 100 acre site and developers Red City will today announce the design team behind the landmark project.

Demonstrating a commitment to using local expertise, the very best property and construction professionals from the Northwest have been appointed to ensure the new home of Salford City Reds RLFC is complete in time for the start of the 2010 Super League season.

Building on its reputation as one of the leading project management consultants for sports stadiums, Drivers Jonas (DJ) has been appointed by Red City Developments to deliver its new 20,000 seater stadium and other leisure facilities in Barton.

With a vast experience of stadia and leisure development, the DJ sport team’s past projects include the Stadium of Light in Benfica, Portugal, the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough and more recently the Madejski stadium, Reading.

Paul Kinsella, partner at DJ, comments: “This is a fantastic instruction from Red City Developments. It strengthens our position as one of the country’s leading project management consultants, specialising in this sector. DJ is very excited to be delivering this first class events stadium. We have a reputation for understanding sport, we have the passion and knowledge to make this scheme a huge success.”

Also working on the new stadium is one of the UK’s leading specialists in the design of sporting venues, AFL Architects. Having worked on iconic stadia including Wembley, Old Trafford and Anfield, AFL Architects also worked on the 2002 Commonwealth Games Stadium in Manchester. Offering a wealth of experience, AFL Architects will bring the Salford Red’s fans dreams to life in this state-of-the-art sports facility.

AFL’s Sports Director, John Roberts commented: “The City of Salford Stadium is going to be one of the most visible sporting venues in the country so the design is hugely important. The Barton Bridge flyover which cuts across one side of the site provided us with a really unique design opportunity – to give passers by a glimpse of the action going on inside the stadium. This has been achieved by lowering the height of the east stand and making a feature out of the elevated west stand. It’s a really exciting project and we are thrilled to be involved.”

Working alongside AFL as the official hotel and retail architects is Salford firm Leach Rhodes Walker. Headed up by director Gary Darby, Leach Rhodes Walker is designing the luxury 4*, 210 bedroom hotel, 68,000 sq ft of exhibition and conferencing facilities as well as an additional 230,000 sq ft of retail space on the eastern edge of the site. Leach Rhodes Walker has previously designed the Mal Maison in Manchester city centre and more recently the new Crowne Plaza hotel in the vibrant Northern Quarter.

Gary Darby said: “Having a sporting venue with such extensive conferencing facilities and integrated hotel all within the stadium complex is a real challenge but the City of Salford Stadium is going to be one of a kind. It’s a great scheme to be working on.”

Also working on the development are SKM, structural and highways engineers, Planit as masterplanners, RPS Gregory as mechanical and electrical engineers and Davis Langdon as cost consultants.

John Wilkinson OBE of Red City Developments concludes: “It was imperative to have an expert team behind the stadium build and we’ve been lucky enough to find that talent on our door step. It seems only right that on a landmark development such as this, that will offer so much to the cities of Salford and Manchester that we have local designers, developers and hopefully a high proportion of local contractors making it happen.”

To date, the site has been cleared of vegetation, geotechnical works have begun alongside initial ground works and remediation. Civil engineering works are due to start later this summer and the stadium will be operational in the first quarter of 2010.

City of Salford Stadium Development News – information issued on behalf of Red City Developments by Crush Communications 090408

Location: Barton-upon-Irwell, Salford, Manchester, Northwest England, UK