Development by BDP in Manchester, northwest England

17 Nov 2009 Plans for Lancashire County Cricket Club redevelopment submitted to Trafford Council Bid to bring Ashes back to Old Trafford for 2013 Lancashire County Cricket Club and its partners have submitted plans to Trafford Council for the re-development of Old Trafford cricket ground and the surrounding area. If approved, the development will significantly boost the Club's prospects of bringing the Ashes back to Old Trafford and generate huge economic benefits for the area. The proposals are part of an innovative sports-led regeneration strategy for a 50-acre mixed use neighbourhood in Old Trafford. The proposals are being brought forward by a partnership between the club, Trafford Council, Ask Developments and Tesco, and will transform the historic venue into one of the country's premier sporting destinations. The plans include a Tesco store with approximately 100,000 sq ft retail sales floorspace providing over 500 jobs, half of which would be guaranteed for the local long-term unemployed. The development will bring investment of at least £70m into parts of Trafford which suffer from low levels of economic activity and employment. It will generate an estimated 71,000 additional visitors to Old Trafford each year, creating a further £1m per year additional spend in the local economy. It will include new facilities offering a host of educational and training opportunities for the local community. LCCC's Chief Executive Jim Cumbes says: "The club makes a huge contribution to the local and regional economy and is a critical part of the region's international sporting infrastructure. "It's a time right now of fierce competition for the rights to stage International Test Matches, which has seen the ground lose the Ashes this year. The significant investment in the new facilities will ensure that Old Trafford regains its rightful place on the International Test Match circuit in time for the 2013 Ashes Test." Phase 1 of the development is already under way, with new conference and events suite, The Point, under construction and due for completion in July 2010. The striking new designs for Phase 2 by architects BDP aim to retain the heritage and history of the famous ground by enhancing the existing pavilion, as well as adding stunning new player and media facilities, conferencing, hotel facilities and an extension to the highly successful indoor Cricket School. Two new grandstands will ensure a capacity of 15,000 capable of rising to 25,000 with temporary seating. There will also be floodlights and a screen showing action replays. The partners have undertaken a detailed consultation exercise with local residents to ensure the proposals secure the maximum regeneration benefits for the Borough. The major landowners in the area, including Stretford High School, Trafford College, Greater Manchester Police and Kelloggs have also been part of discussions in formulating the wider framework. The partners have created a website to share information on the redevelopment and what it means for the region. The site provides details on the proposals, images of how the redevelopment would look as well as ways to pledge support for the scheme. www.oldtraffordashes.co.uk will go live as of 11am Friday, November 13. Drivers Jonas Manchester-based team have acted as planning and development advisors to Lancashire County Cricket Club since the inception of the overall project and Masterplan. Old Trafford Cricket Ground Manchester images / informatiuon from BDP 171109 BDP Studio Manchester picture : Martine Hamilton Knight BDP Studio Manchester Summary of the Lancashire County Cricket Club/Tesco planning application The planning application to be submitted jointly by Lancashire County Cricket Club and Tesco represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the borough of Trafford and the wider Manchester city region. The application sets out a transformational mixed-use regeneration scheme which sits at the heart of Trafford Council's Sports-led Regeneration Framework for Old Trafford and vision for the borough's future. The proposals represent a unique chance to bring significant investment, major new employment, world class sports facilities and educational and training opportunities to parts of the borough which badly need them, and to bring massive economic benefits to Trafford, the city region and the North-west as a whole. Cricket is a sport followed worldwide by hundreds of millions of people and the historic legacy of Old Trafford's ground means that it has enjoyed the highest profile possible within the sport at club and international level for over 150 years - including hosting for many years the fixture which is the pinnacle of the sport - the Ashes Test between England and Australia. International Cricket and The Ashes cricket, in particular, brings with it a wide range of branding, tourism, sporting, educational, community and employment benefits that Trafford cannot afford to lose out on. In 2009, the Ashes took place amid global attention, and Old Trafford missed out (with Cardiff awarded a Test for the first time, ahead of Old Trafford). The current Old Trafford ground is simply not of a high enough standard to meet the English Cricket Board's increasingly stringent standards. Hosting international cricket matches is now a fiercely competitive business. The ECB have granted Old Trafford only one Test match in 2010. After that time the awarding of any future Test Matches to Old Trafford will be strictly dependent on LCCC undertaking an extensive modernisation and improvement programme. The need to substantially re-develop Old Trafford has been recognised as crucial by organisations tasked with the economic development of the region and city region. The project has the full support of the Northwest Development Agency and Sport England. Phase 1 of the development is now taking place at Old Trafford creating a new conference and events suite, "The Point", with an investment of £15m. It is due for completion in July 2010. However, it is the Phase 2 stadium works, which along with the proposed Tesco retail store, that together form the basis of the current application. They must begin by Autumn 2010 with completion in late 2012 in order for Old Trafford to bid for "win" and "host" the Ashes Test in 2013. The Phase 2 works include investment of c£32m in new state of the art player and media facilities, extension to the ground's indoor cricket school, a substantially re-furbished Pavilion, new two tier general admission seating and associated infrastructure and external works. Lancashire County Cricket Club lacks the financial resources to deliver the substantive level of investment needed at Old Trafford to meet stringent new ECB standards. The ambitious stadium proposals are fully dependent upon a development cross-subsidy from the proposed Tesco store in order to be deliverable. The Club and Tesco have undertaken extensive local consultations in the run up to this application, involving over 900 local residents and local businesses, 152 other stakeholders including Salford City Council, Manchester City Council, NWDA; Sport England, ECB; Manchester United FC, MIDAS, local MPs and councillors. Numerous presentations and open discussion forums were held at the request of local Councillors and Officers, including with the following groups - Stretford Neighbourhood Forum; Gorse Hill Community Action Group; Talbot Road and Chester Road business community; Northwest Design Review Panel (Places Matter). The development of a retail store will bring significant economic benefits including hundreds of jobs - at least 500 within the store, with at least half available to long-term local unemployed people. The Tesco retail store will be a Regeneration Partnership store. Tesco has a powerful track record across the UK in transforming lives by providing training, life skills development and employment. The retail sales floor area of the store is approximately 100,000 sq ft. Opponents of the store cite much larger gross areas but these are misleading as they include for a wide range of non retail space, for example, storage areas, staff rooms, cafes, toilets, atrium areas, escalators, fire escapes. It is the sales area of the store which is the key consideration as this drives turnover and determines the level of impact a store will have. A detailed retail impact assessment is submitted with our application - this demonstrates (a) that there is a need for a store of this scale in this location (currently local people are forced to drive to alternative locations because of lack of provision) and (b) that the impact of the store (any new store will have some impact) is entirely within acceptable levels. The proposals will deliver a major contribution to grass roots and elite sporting development in Trafford and across the region, particularly through enhanced working with Trafford College and Stretford High School. This will have lasting impacts in inspiring and incentivising a generation of future sports enthusiasts and budding cricketers in the area. The consultation undertaken by LCCC and Tesco has demonstrated enormous support for what LCCC is seeking to achieve - the winning back of Test and Ashes Cricket. Almost without exception the feedback has been positive in this respect with local people and businesses understanding the history of international cricket in the Borough, the importance in terms of economic benefits, and the image and visitor benefits which come from cricket at Old Trafford.