Brandywell Redevelopment

[Aaron]

Derry City have unveiled plans for a new £15 million stadium at the Brandywell.

The proposed development, which they hope to complete by 2012, is for a 6,000 all-seater stadium as part of a completely redeveloped Brandywell complex.

Also included in the plans, which go before planning authorities on Monday, are proposals for an indoor football complex, two retail units, a medical centre and a pharmacy.

There are, though, no plans under the current proposals, to include a dog-racing track.

The company formed specifically to formulate the plans and help raise the necessary funding is Brandywell Properties Limited.

It was named as the preferred bidder last week by Derry city council who currently own the Brandywell.

BPL chairman Jack McAuley said they were hopeful of securing the Brandywell site for a nominal fee.

"The Valuation and Lands Agency will decide that matter and we have had good feedback from them already on our plans," he said.

Derry City chief executive Jim Roddy said the future of the football club depended on the success of the scheme.

"Make no mistake about it, this has to work," he said.

"We have UEFA Cup ties coming up and because of current European regulations we will be limited to 2,200 people.

"It has reached the stage where we have to seriously look at taking games like that outside of our city."

The BPL will apply to a number of agencies including the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and the FAI for grant funding, but will still leave the club needing to raise a significant proportion of the £15million price tag itself.

"No stadium is build these days without commercial development as part of the deal," explained Mr McAuley.

"We have been in consultation with a number of interested parties, people who use the Brandywell already and community groups to plan as best we can this significant development."

If the planning application goes through, and several final details on the plans have yet to be ironed out, work should start by the spring of next year.

The last improvement to the Brandywell was the construction of the new stand in 1991, under the new plans the existing stands would be demolished


Sounds great but i'l not get excited till the builders are on site working.:D :D

[rerun]

Any "artists impressions" of what it "might" look like?

[Poor Student]

From what I had vaguely gathered from your board the council said you had to include a dog track and pay for it or no deal?:confused:

[Mr A]

The doggymen seem to be out of the equation as they simply haven't engaged with the process at all. Totally their own fault.

These plans look good and are a great step forward for Derry City- now there's just the small matter of raising the money to build this.

[MariborKev]

The doggymen seem to be out of the equation as they simply haven't engaged with the process at all. Totally their own fault.


Totally correct.

All the other stakeholders are delighted and wrote glowing letters of recommendation as part of the bid.

The doggie men didn't reponse to correspondance, turned down requests for meetings.....

[Aaron]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7954/p10106277fj.jpg

Propsed plans!!

[Bald Student]

Does the 15 million pounds include the land price? It seems a lot for what's in that plan.

[MariborKev]

PS,

The land must be used for sporting means(under the convenant by which The Honourable The Irish Society handed the land over the City Council) and cannot be rezoned for housing etc.

Therefore the plan is that the 13.5 arces would be acquired for a nominal sum.

Those images are only the outline, and when the detailed plans are announced you will see why it'll take £15m

[anto eile]

sounds great. but i wont hold my breath. good luck though
although 6000 seems a bit on the small side

[Dazzy]

sounds great. but i wont hold my breath. good luck though
although 6000 seems a bit on the small side

Well considering its surrounded by houses its as big as its going to get unless the stadium is moved a 100m down to the other side.

[thejollyrodger]

6,000 does seem a bit on the small side...can they add a second tier to the new stadium ? If they can then it would be an fairly good development. £15million does seem a bit on the big side though.

[Aaron]

6000 does seem rather small but if you consider how many fans we get at matches it wud be big enuff for us. It is such a costly proposal because of the other things around the stadium like the dome covered pitches and the retail outlets. Until everything is sorted and signed i am not going to hold my breath

[dcfc_1928]

Its a 13 acre site - this is the overall cost of developing the site not just the stadium.

My initial thoughts were that the stadium was quite small - but you could count on 1 hand how many times we have had crowds of 6000/7000 in the last 10 years. I think its a realistic size.


6,000 does seem a bit on the small side...can they add a second tier to the new stadium ? If they can then it would be an fairly good development. £15million does seem a bit on the big side though.

[Mr A]

Wouldn't worry about it being too small. If you can get 6000 on a regular basis the money will soon be found to make it bigger methinks!

[dubman]

good to see, thats you bohs shels cork and the drogs sorted. I can see pats being keft behind..

[thejollyrodger]

yeah, great to see another Eircom League club getting its grounds sorted out. 6 years could be shorter though.

[Dazzy]

yeah, great to see another Eircom League club getting its grounds sorted out. 6 years could be shorter though.

It could but alot of stuff is going into it, i expect the stadium to be completed in 2009 with everything else coming afterwards.

[thejollyrodger]

2009 FANTASTIC ! How many clubs is that now that are getting their house in order.

(monaghan united and Limerick FC take note:P)

[Speranza]

Sports facilities international will be building the new stadium so it will be along the same lines as Harps, Drogs and Cobh. Does Drogs new stadium have the potential for expansaion? If so then I would expect we would be able to up the capacity if the barstoolers suddenly became interested in LoI.

[MariborKev]

It could but alot of stuff is going into it, i expect the stadium to be completed in 2009 with everything else coming afterwards.

Other way round Dazzy, the primary development will be the rest of the site, which will help to fund the stadium development

[pete]

Its good that some plans in place but hard to take seriously when no idea how will be funded & no guarantee that can get the land. £15m is a massive amount of cash to raise as its not as if any assets to sell off...

[Speranza]

Northern Ireland Sports council will be one obvious group to seek investment from. Various EU peace and reconciliation groups are always keen to give money to area seen as suffering from politcal strife.

[MariborKev]

Its good that some plans in place but hard to take seriously when no idea how will be funded & no guarantee that can get the land. £15m is a massive amount of cash to raise as its not as if any assets to sell off...

Pete, just because it isn't in the public domain does not mean that there are no detailed funding ideas

[Strabane_Harp]

brilliant news for derry and the league in general :D

well done derry and good luck with this

[anto eile]

Well considering its surrounded by houses its as big as its going to get unless the stadium is moved a 100m down to the other side.
generally speaking. the brandywell is a huge plot of land.youd easily accomodate 10,000 seater stadium there if you made the effort. and for STG£15 id expect that

[MariborKev]

13.5 arces of a site

However planning issues relating to surrounding housing, would mean that larger stadia would pose greater planning issues.

Furthermore the plans for the Brandywell do not equate to

£15m = New Stadium

The £15m is the costing for the redevlopment of the entire site, which includes the construction of covered third generation pitches(along the lines of the Astro Dome in Dundalk), the retails units, the medical centre, a new third generation outdoor pitch as well as the development of the "stadium"

[daniel]

generally speaking. the brandywell is a huge plot of land.youd easily accomodate 10,000 seater stadium there if you made the effort. and for STG£15 id expect that

Why build a stadium that hold 9-10000 people if your only going to half full it every other week, if we were pulling crowds of 5000 every week then a stadium that holds 10000 would look absolutley ridiculous!!

[higgins]

Pete, just because it isn't in the public domain does not mean that there are no detailed funding ideas

ah come on now Maribor you must know by now if you have not informed Rovers Bohs Cork and UCD posters on here then its not happening ;)

Why dont you groundshare with Finn Harps to keep the FAI happy :D

[dortie]

Maribor.......When does work commence on the project ? At the end of the current season ?

[MariborKev]

The plan is that it would start in Spring 2007
-Demolising the Brandywell Centre, building retail units there is the first step AFAIK

[DmanDmythDledge]

Will your attendences suffer due to the work going on?

[dcfcsteve]

Will your attendences suffer due to the work going on?

I wouldn't expect so - though depends what type of matches we're playing in.

We currently average anywhere around 2,500 a game. I'm assuming the stadium as a whole won't be closed mid-season for the work, so the most imposing stuff would happen in the close season. With our crwods at the level they are, any other work could be done with the fans still accommodated somewhere in the current/new stadium.

However, if we get high profile games (e.g. Europe) we may suffer - but again that all depends on the work timings etc.

So in a nutshell, I wouldn't expect so.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Are you going to be able to continue playing there during the works?