LONDON: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) unveiled on Wednesday designs to renovate the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, also known as the “home of cricket”. The designs are the work of two-time Stirling Prize winners Wilkinson Eyre.
Lord’s will see the Compton and Edrich stands renovated from the period of 2019 and 2021. The new three-tier stands will accommodate around 11,500 members of the public at the Nursery End of the ground. Its capacity will be increased by 2,500 seats, and a walkway linking both stands and overlooking the Nursery Ground will be introduced.
Spectator amenities will be upgraded with catering and WC facilities, wheelchair-accessible spaces and lift access at all levels. The new additions to the ground will have debenture seating and restaurants in the middle tier and 3% of all seating will be for wheelchair users or those with restricted mobility. Unlike the current structures, the top tier of the new stands will be partially covered.
Last year, The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the new £25 million Warner Stand, the first stand to be rebuilt at Lord’s since the Grand Stand was completed in 1997.
A planning application will be submitted later this year to Westminster City Council after consultation with local residents. If consent is granted, MCC Members will be asked to approve the plans at the Club’s AGM in May 2019, and work to demolish the existing stands will begin after next year’s Test Match against Australia.
MCC aims to have seating in the new stands in place for use during the 2020 season, with fully fitted-out facilities to be opened the following summer. The cost to revamp the stands is expected to be approximately £50 million ($67.26m).
MCC chief executive & cecretary Guy Lavender said: “MCC is committed to ensuring Lord’s remains the best place in the world at which to watch and play cricket. These new stands will transform the Nursery End, providing world-class facilities, opening up views both to the Pavilion and back towards the Nursery Ground, and adding another architectural enhancement to Lord’s.
“We are very aware of the responsibility we have to protect everything that makes Lord’s so special, and we are delighted with the positive feedback we’ve already received from our membership.
“As well as providing a significant improvement to capacity and facilities, the plans for the new Compton and Edrich stands complement beautifully the J.P. Morgan Media Centre, which was designed by Future Systems and is itself an award-winning building, well known to anyone who has watched cricket at Lord’s.”
Jim Eyre, founding director of WilkinsonEyre, said: “We are delighted to be working on this critically important project at Lord’s which will transform the setting of the Nursery End and provide some great views of the cricket.”
