Loirston chosen for new stadium

Aberdeen FC set to move

EXCLUSIVE

By Charlie Allan

 

Published: 03/04/2009

 

THE Evening Express can today reveal the preferred location for Aberdeen’s new community stadium.

 

The £38 million community facility, which will become home to Aberdeen FC, will be at Loirston Loch in the south of the city.

 

It follows a year-long series of feasibility studies to decide if the site at Nigg would be the best location for the stadium.

 

The report on the recommendation of the Nigg site will now go out to consultation and will be referred to the council’s policy and strategy committee on April 28.

 

A number of other potential sites across the city, including one at King’s Links, were examined by Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeen FC and it was decided all of them were unsuitable.

 

Aberdeen FC managing director Duncan Fraser, who is also a member of the Arena Project Advisory and Monitoring Board created to advise of the best site and stadium design, said: “These recommendations have still to be approved and at the appropriate time, there will be a full consultation process with fans.

 

“Their feedback will be important.â€

 

For more on this story, and an exclusive image of the new arena, pick up today’s Evening Express or check back later

12 hours ago, Jute said:

Think there is a gastropub in the retail park as well but it’s shit getting there even with the rail link especially if it’s a decent crowd. 

Think this is what I remember hearing. Never made it to the Reebok but transport and the sole pub was not exactly enticing.

Two takes from this.

Hearts are a small club.

And Dave Cormack can get his 16,000 capacity stadium idea right in the bin.

42 minutes ago, Panda said:

And Dave Cormack can get his 16,000 capacity stadium idea right in the bin.

Think that nearly half our home games were over 16K last season. 18 or 19K would be doable. One of the issues is that we now have a lot of season tickets in all parts of the ground, so closing off areas for matches that will have sparse crowds isn't possible, and won't likely be possible in a new ground either without building way over capacity. It'd be interesting, also, to get an idea of numbers through the turnstiles as well as official tickets sold, which will include season tickets. Also, interesting to see how many season tickets are for u12s.

Average home attendance last season was apparently 13,283.

Perhaps waiting until each team has had more than 1 home game would make the table more useful?

3 hours ago, tom_widdows said:

Average home attendance last season was apparently 13,283.

League average was 15,628.

We had nine games last season where the crowd was above 16,000.

3 hours ago, tom_widdows said:

Perhaps waiting until each team has had more than 1 home game would make the table more useful?

Yeh, sure, if you need more evidence.

Interesting comment from Alan Burrows on Twitter, saying the capacity of Pittodrie these days is 18,800, and that it'll be lower than that for European games.

5 hours ago, Panda said:

Interesting comment from Alan Burrows on Twitter, saying the capacity of Pittodrie these days is 18,800, and that it'll be lower than that for European games.

I think it’s all down to the council not approving areas of the merkland? I know the UA have complained about it. Then at uefa I think you have to have a set distance from the pitch? 

3 hours ago, manc_don said:

I think it’s all down to the council not approving areas of the merkland? I know the UA have complained about it. Then at uefa I think you have to have a set distance from the pitch? 

Aye there's also a small block of seats next to away end, a block in section Y and a block in upper deck that all don't get sold.

Was trying to buy tickets for the Häcken game next week - I'm having to wait until the season ticket seats get released tomorrow night as there's only the Y and upper deck currently available. Used to love the upper deck but can barely see the goal line these days since they extended the pitch. 

That's why I always argue it's difficult for Aberdeen to sell out, as once we hit about 16,000 the remaining seats are crap. If we had, say, a Tynecastle or an Easter Road, we'd sell a lot more tickets.

Still, new stadium coming soon...

Dundee's potential new stadium. 

Looks alright to be fair.

3 minutes ago, Panda said:

Dundee's potential new stadium. 

Looks alright to be fair.

It looks great but miles from town and nearest pub and with shit public transport links. 

47 minutes ago, Jute said:

It looks great but miles from town and nearest pub and with shit public transport links. 

It looks like an artist rendering of a boring industrial building, with ugly hotel attachment. The location is what makes it. If it is a shite location then it will be shite. I don't get folk that are happy to overlook that because of a shiny new thing. It's the weird attitude that would have had us playing in Westhill.

58 minutes ago, Jute said:

It looks great but miles from town and nearest pub and with shit public transport links. 

It's about an eight minute drive from their current stadium. Unfortunately it's difficult to find a prime city centre location for new stadiums these days, at least theirs is very much within the city.

When you look at the map of Dundee it's realistically as close as they can get to the city centre and train station.

12 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

If it is a shite location then it will be shite. I don't get folk that are happy to overlook that because of a shiny new thing. It's the weird attitude that would have had us playing in Westhill.

So what's their alternative? Dens Park doesn't look like it has the footprint to rebuild a stadium there.

Not sure even a stadium share with Dundee United could be built on that street either.

For Aberdeen, we were building at Kingsford when the council had space in the city they could give us, and have magically realised that actually the beach might work. I don't see those same options in Dundee.

Its about 3/4 of a mile further from dundee station than Mcdiarmed Park is from Perth station.

Im not bothered by a 5k walk and there there are already 'facilities' next to the site so it is more suitable than Kingsford which the older I get the more ludicrous a site it becomes. The bypass junction really tops it off

I say good luck to them but will be interested to see if they scale back certain parts when the seemingly inevitable 'eeerr...we are already 9months behind and the costs have gone up 80%' report comes back from the project manager.

57 minutes ago, Panda said:

It's about an eight minute drive from their current stadium. Unfortunately it's difficult to find a prime city centre location for new stadiums these days, at least theirs is very much within the city.

When you look at the map of Dundee it's realistically as close as they can get to the city centre and train station.

So what's their alternative? Dens Park doesn't look like it has the footprint to rebuild a stadium there.

Not sure even a stadium share with Dundee United could be built on that street either.

For Aberdeen, we were building at Kingsford when the council had space in the city they could give us, and have magically realised that actually the beach might work. I don't see those same options in Dundee.

It’s still a shite location and much further from the station. You can walk to Dens in 30 minutes from station. It is nearly a 2 hour walk to Camperdown. Other than the Brewers Fare at the Cinieworld effort there are no pubs within walking distance. It will be shite for anyone not being driving. 

16 minutes ago, Jute said:

It’s still a shite location and much further from the station. You can walk to Dens in 30 minutes from station. It is nearly a 2 hour walk to Camperdown. Other than the Brewers Fare at the Cinieworld effort there are no pubs within walking distance. It will be shite for anyone not being driving. 

Okay so what's your suggestion they do instead?

They can't build that stadium on the current Dens Park footprint.

50 minutes ago, Jute said:

It’s still a shite location and much further from the station. You can walk to Dens in 30 minutes from station. It is nearly a 2 hour walk to Camperdown. Other than the Brewers Fare at the Cinieworld effort there are no pubs within walking distance. It will be shite for anyone not being driving. 

2hrs to walk 3.1miles?

48 minutes ago, Panda said:

Okay so what's your suggestion they do instead?

They can't build that stadium on the current Dens Park footprint.

Just stay at Dens, just like we're staying at Pittodrie. 

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Just stay at Dens,

Why? 

A new stadium with increased capacity, better facilities, more commercial opportunities, and going by the artists' impression it's a huge upgrade on Dens Park.

But there's not a pub nearby..

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

 

just like we're staying at Pittodrie. 

As you know I chatted to Dave Cormack for a good hour in the summer, we're pals now, and he assured me the stadium is on its way.

He's delivered Cormack Park.

He's delivered Graeme Shinnie.

He's delivered Jimmy Thelin.

He'll deliver the new stadium, with a pub nearby.

35 minutes ago, Panda said:

Why? 

A new stadium with increased capacity, better facilities, more commercial opportunities, and going by the artists' impression it's a huge upgrade on Dens Park.

But there's not a pub nearby..

As you know I chatted to Dave Cormack for a good hour in the summer, we're pals now, and he assured me the stadium is on its way.

He's delivered Cormack Park.

He's delivered Graeme Shinnie.

He's delivered Jimmy Thelin.

He'll deliver the new stadium, with a pub nearby.

What I mean is that we stayed at Pittodrie because the alternative was shite. We waited for a better alternative, because sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something just because you feel you have to, which was the case with Milne. The beach would be fantastic, but Pittodrie is fine for a good while, we don't need the shiny new thing. If I were a Dundee fan, I'd probably think that the heart was being ripped out of the club by some US bellend, and rather stay put until something better comes along. It's the next 100 years of the club (football will still be being played in the smouldering ruins of the planet), it's better to get it right rather than immediacy.

8 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

What I mean is that we stayed at Pittodrie because the alternative was shite. We waited for a better alternative,

I think that's a fantastic rewriting of history.

We would have been at Kingswells had Scotland got Euro 2008.

We would have been at Loirston had the council not pulled a fast one.

And we'd be currently building Kingsford if we had £60m a few years ago.

 

8 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

 

because sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something just because you feel you have to, which was the case with Milne. The beach would be fantastic, but Pittodrie is fine for a good while, we don't need the shiny new thing. If I were a Dundee fan, I'd probably think that the heart was being ripped out of the club by some US bellend, and rather stay put until something better comes along. It's the next 100 years of the club (football will still be being played in the smouldering ruins of the planet), it's better to get it right rather than immediacy.

Again, what is their alternative?

The stadium is a shitheap. Pittodrie would be a massive upgrade on what they currently have.

Waiting isn't going to do anything for them. 

8 hours ago, Panda said:

I think that's a fantastic rewriting of history.

We would have been at Kingswells had Scotland got Euro 2008.

We would have been at Loirston had the council not pulled a fast one.

And we'd be currently building Kingsford if we had £60m a few years ago.

First, they were all absolutely shite options. Secondly, none of them were ever happening (which is really what I mean by shite, as in "full of shite", that wasn't very clear). My memory is a bit foggy (like loirston) on Kingswells, but there was no way that the SFA were helping build Aberdeen a new stadium, nor the government. The area was opened up for development. Loirston would still have been going through re-writes to amend the capacity to 15,000 with a design similar to St Darren's. Instead, it was conveniently - and in no way linked - opened up for development. Kingsford was ditched as soon as Cormack actually funded the training ground in return for chairmanship, as he even he could recognise how ridiculous it was. I expect to see that area opened up for development in the coming years. To add, the beach development, much like Dundee's pretty rendering, will not be happening either. I'm ten year's time, both Pittodrie and Dens will still be going strong, and both clubs will be ten years down the road to not moving.

I still reckon Broadford Works is the perfect site if you include all of the business units between Ann Street and Skene Square and the buildings bordering Hutcheon Street and Maberly Street.

It certainly passes the highly technical process of copying and pasting the Pittodrie footprint onto the site using a screenshot of Google Maps.

Decent road network (especially if/when they dual Berryden Road up to St Machar roundabout), accessible to just about every existing bus route to/from/in the city, already has a train track running under which could have a station incorporated into it, loads of pubs nearby and could help regenerate the George Street area.

Re-use as much of the red bricks in the facade as possible and re-purpose the watch tower as a floodlight to satisfy the heritage people.

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

First, they were all absolutely shite options. Secondly, none of them were ever happening (which is really what I mean by shite, as in "full of shite", that wasn't very clear). My memory is a bit foggy (like loirston) on Kingswells, but there was no way that the SFA were helping build Aberdeen a new stadium, nor the government. The area was opened up for development. Loirston would still have been going through re-writes to amend the capacity to 15,000 with a design similar to St Darren's. Instead, it was conveniently - and in no way linked - opened up for development. Kingsford was ditched as soon as Cormack actually funded the training ground in return for chairmanship, as he even he could recognise how ridiculous it was. I expect to see that area opened up for development in the coming years. To add, the beach development, much like Dundee's pretty rendering, will not be happening either. I'm ten year's time, both Pittodrie and Dens will still be going strong, and both clubs will be ten years down the road to not moving.

But all that is irrelevant in terms of Dundee's stadium.

We're currently Pittodrie not because it's the best option, but because the council are doing their usual and we currently don't have the money to build the new ground anyway. 

Should Aberdeen get the money, they will leave Pittodrie, and likewise Dundee will leave Dens Park should they find the money.

46 minutes ago, Slim said:

 

It certainly passes the highly technical process of copying and pasting the Pittodrie footprint onto the site using a screenshot of Google Maps.

 

It's not the Pittodrie footprint you need to paste onto it though, it's the footprint from a new modern stadium. 

Unless AZ Alkmaar's stadium can fit on it then gtf.

15 hours ago, tom_widdows said:

2hrs to walk 3.1miles?

3.6 miles from station to Cinieworld according to google maps and new location is a bit further along Kingsway so added 10 minutes to their 1 hour 35 estimate to Cinieworld. Vast majority of that uphill. Nobody is really walking that. Only way of reaching the site will be car or bus. I am cynical about the claims about shuttle buses as bus companies just don’t carry enough capacity to run existing services never mind extra match day services. It will also add additional cost to those travelling by public transport.