Everton FC has announced that the final brick facades for its new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock are ready to be lifted into place. This will complete the exterior of the English side’s brand new home, which is situated in a historic dockyard on the banks of the River Mersey in Liverpool.
We previously reported that more than half a million bricks would be used clad the new Everton Stadium in a design that deliberately complements its industrial dockside surroundings.
Each panel has been computer-designed in a 3D environment before being manufactured from real bricks under carefully monitored factory conditions.
Everton received planning approval from Liverpool City Council for the new 52,888-seat stadium in February 2020 and formally broke ground in August 2021. The venue is planned to be completed in late 2024. It has not yet been decided when the first game will be played at the stadium.
Everton has said the aim has always been to try and replicate the best characteristics of its current home, Goodison Park, while improving on modern facilities to meet and surpass the expectations of the fans.
Accordingly, the exterior panels of the new stadium are arranged so they display elements of the historic Goodison Park latticework pioneered by the famous Scottish stadium architect, Archibald Leitch.
Meanwhile, blue Kellen blocks have been used to form a ‘rippling water’ pattern within the existing, exposed dock walls in the Fan Plaza.
“It was always the plan to have the dock wall exposed and the area inside these walls will be laid with blue glass Kellen blocks,” said Gareth Jacques, project director at Laing O’Rourke, the main contractor for the project. “There are three different types of block, with different quantities of blue glass included as part of the manufacturing process. The design intent is that they appear like shimmering water when the light shines on them.”
The fan plaza is also interspersed with heritage items from the dock’s heyday, such as historic railway tracks, capstans, mooring bollards and cobblestones that were a feature when Liverpool’s docks dominated global trade.
Within the bowl, the first padded seats have also been installed for Dock on 1 members, within the west stand. Currently, more than 40,000 seats are now in place across the 52,888-capacity stadium.
