To take OAFC forward we need a new stadium, thats as they say FACT !
The plans look good, the pictures and designs are impressive... but what do you the fan think ?
Published: 15th February 2006
Latics’ new £80m goal
OLDHAM Athletic’s stunning £80 million vision which will transform Boundary Park into a 21st Century stadium in a league of its own.OLDHAM Athletic has unveiled plans for the ‘Oldham Arena’ – a futuristic 16,000-seater sports, corporate and leisure facility they claim could create at least 1,000 new jobs.
Club officials see the £80 million project as an opportunity to regenerate the borough and – following failed schemes like Sports Park 2000 and Ferney Field – are now challenging the public and private sectors to show the commitment required to realise their Boundary Park dream.
Latics director Ian Hill explains the vision is to transform the prime 21-acre site into a showcase complex containing community and corporate facilities the town currently lacks.
"I don’t see this purely as an Oldham Athletic thing – it is a massive opportunity for the whole borough," he said.
"It is one that we as a town can’t afford to miss as we may not have a chance to make as big a statement as this again for a long time.
"We’ve had the Ritchie Report and Oldham Beyond, but what has actually been achieved to improve the image of the town or the quality of life for its people?
"It doesn’t have to be this way but perhaps it needs the private sector to have the guts and willpower to show the town how, with everyone’s support, it can be different."
A planning application is set for submission by the end of 2006 to enable construction work to start at the end of the 2006/7 football season.
Development would be phased, starting with the construction of a new Broadway Stand, then replacing the current Chadderton Road and Main Stand. Only the Rochdale Road End, built in 1992, would remain intact.
However, all will depend on funding being available and – with the architects, Frank Whittle Partnership, projecting costs between £70 and £80 million – officials are pondering several options.
One "fall-back" measure is to sell approximately a quarter of the site – land to the rear of the Chadderton Road and Broadway stands – for a development comprising town houses and multi-storey apartment blocks.
Naming rights for the venue are also up for grabs, while key additional funding could come from a partnership mooted with the Pennine Acute Hospital Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham.
Although no deal has yet been struck, the new plans make provision to re-accommodate NHS staff currently scattered around town in sub-standard housing into 300 new rented apartments behind the Rochdale Road End.
And in a scheme similar to that used at Warrington and Blackpool’s stadia, some of the Primary Care Trust’s healthcare services like physiotherapy, podiatry and dentistry could relocate into office space within the new South Stand.
Ian Hill said: "We listened to local health officials in formulating our plans and saw how this has been a success in other developments.
"Our close proximity to the Royal Oldham offers a unique opportunity in that we could also help with their car parking and staff accommodation problems."
Simon Corney, Latics’ managing director, said the new Boundary Park could host England U21 football internationals and high-profile Rugby League fixtures, but warned the scheme was a necessity for the football club’s future.
"If this doesn’t happen you truly have to wonder what the future is for Latics," he said.
"It is haemorrhaging money in a decaying stadium with poor facilities and that has to change. There is a massive amount now hedging on local firms and groups getting fully behind us with funding and commitment."
The Oldham Roughyeds rugby league club would continue to share the stadium and their chairman, Chris Hamilton, has praised the plans.
He said: "The vision of the Oldham Arena is a bold and imaginative step forward in the future progress – not only of professional sport in the town – but also for the borough as whole and we are very supportive of it.
"We hope that the benefits, as demonstrated with similar projects throughout the country, will enable the project to become reality."
Local MPs Michael Meacher and Phil Woolas also expressed support in a joint statement.
It said: "We firmly believe that the proposals will attract a great deal of commercial interest in the proposed hotel, conference venue, and prestigious office facilities. The direct motorway access will open up a conference market of 20 million people who live and work less than 90 minutes drive from Boundary Park."
Click on the images below to see them in more detail - and click on the link below to see the video of a computer simulation which gives a spectacular glimpse of the planned stadium.
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IN DETAIL:
PROJECTED to create at least 1,000 jobs it could also provide a host of new corporate and community facilities including:
Three new stands with bars, hospitality boxes, catering and restaurants
A landmark four-star tower hotel with 130 beds
Conference facilities for up to 1,000 guests
A fitness/leisure centre with swimming pool
100,000 square feet of prestigious office space
300 new rented apartments for key local health workers
CHADDERTON STAND
Currently known as the Chadderton Road End, this would be rebuilt to a 3,200 capacity stand.
Contained within this – at the corner with the new North Stand – would be a tower hotel and recreation facility which planners hope will become prominently identified with the borough as the visual cornerstone of the development.
Ian Hill said: “As part of our plans we are looking to develop a landmark – something that makes a statement about Oldham’s future and makes the town immediately recognisable.
“We propose building a four star tower hotel making an immediate statement to those leaving the motorway and entering the town: Oldham is a thriving and exciting area.”
The hotel would have a link through to the banqueting and conferencing facilities in the North Stand and would also boast a new 21,500 square feet leisure and fitness club, including basement swimming pool.
NORTH STAND
Currently the Broadway Stand, this would become the new main stand with a seating capacity of 5,200.
At ground floor level it would accommodate the main players’ and executive entrances with a shop, ticketing office, cafe and restaurant, with turnstile access to the first floor concourse.
Conference/banqueting facilities for up to 1000 guests would be provided for match and non-matchdays.
Upper floors would house club offices, a directors’ suite and executive boxes with external seating.
Above third floor level would be 85,000 square feet of lettable office accommodation on up to three separate levels.
Ian Hill said: “At present, large business conferences, school presentation evenings, wedding receptions and any event at which a large number of people gather are being held outside of town.
“With this in mind, we propose to build facilities within our new main stand that would accommodate 500 people for banqueting and 1,000 people, theatre-style for conferences.”
Additional facilities around the arena would be capable of hosting meetings from 10 people upwards to satisfy smaller requirements.
SOUTH STAND
Currently known as the Main Stand, this would be rebuilt into a single-tier structure with an estimated capacity of about 3,000.
The ground floor would have a restaurant. The first and second floors would have 15,000 square feet of lettable office accommodation. One possibility is that some space could be taken up by healthcare services provided by the Primary Care Trust and the Pennine Acute Hospital Trust which runs the Royal Oldham.
Ian Hill said: “It would alleviate the hospital’s need for space by allowing it to relocate some of its existing or new facilities within our stadium, at the same time helping to address the car parking difficulties. We have allowed space for this in one of our stands, reserving it specifically for that use.”
Carl Marsden
First published by the Oldham Advertiser
http://www.oldhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/2...w_80m_goal.html
