The Irish Football Association have welcomed Alex Attwood’s announcement that planning permission has been granted for the redevelopment of the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.
“Receiving planning permission from DOE Planning is another major step in the Windsor Park redevelopment project and a great step forward for football in Northern Ireland,” said Irish FA President, Jim Shaw. “Everyone involved in the project has worked extremely hard to get to this stage and I would like to thank everyone involved in the project as well as all the stakeholders who shared their thoughts during the consultation process. The National Football Stadium plans are truly impressive and I know that once the redevelopment project is complete Windsor Park will be a stadium which we will all be proud of.”
Following a consultation process with the local community and stakeholders across Northern Ireland, which included giving people the opportunity to submit their thoughts on the redevelopment project through the Irish FA website (www.irishfa.com); the design team led by Hamilton Architects, Planning Consultants RPS and the Irish FA finalised the planning application before its submission in December.
Thanks to DCAL support the Irish FA intends to reconstruct Windsor Park so that up to 18,000 fans can be accommodated. This will cost in the region of £29.2m with £25.2m coming from government funds. It is planned that work on the project will begin in September 2013.
The Stadium Redevelopment will comprise:
Provision of an 18,000 seated stadium;
Demolition of the south stand;
Replacement of the south and east stands with newly constructed stands to provide greater enclosure;
Refurbishment of the west and north stands;
Replacement of high mast flood lights with lower level lighting, integrated at stadium roof height;
Creation of a temporary construction access onto Boucher Road to avoid construction impact on local residents;
Development of ancillary office accommodation to provide a new headquarters for the Irish Football Association; and
Development of an appropriate level of conference and community facilities.
Sport Minister Carál Ni Chuilín commented: “This marks another important stage in the re-development of Windsor Park. The Irish Football Association is now able to move to the next stage of their ambition to create a modern stadium to cater for the needs of the whole football community.
“I am sure the new ground will be enjoyed by generations to come. Today’s progress also represents another step in my Department’s regional sports stadiums programme which follows the Executive pledge of up to £110 million of government funding for the redevelopment of three regional sports stadiums at Ravenhill, Windsor Park and Casement Park.”
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