Newcastle United have consulted leading architects Populous, the designers of Tottenham Hotpsur’s stunning new £1.2bn stadium, as they move ahead with plans for their own multi-million pound redevelopment of St James’ Park.
The Magpies have sold out every home game this season and are in the middle of a wide-ranging feasibility study about what they can do to expand and develop their iconic stadium, which is a host venue for Euro 2028.
i understands they are keen to increase capacity above 60,000 while also developing corporate and conference facilities to increase the club’s non-match day revenue.
In an exclusive interview with i, Populous managing director Christopher Lee has confirmed his firm’s interest in playing a part in the planned redevelopment after working in conjunction with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) on projects in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.
As part of the club’s far-reaching due diligence Populous have already had contact with Newcastle over the project and Lee told i he would “bite your hand off” to be involved in the redevelopment of “such a mythical stadium”.
Although it is worth stressing that Newcastle have made no firm decisions on the project yet – and no designer has been appointed – Populous’ extensive portfolio of work means they would surely be among the frontrunners to lead the redesign when it gets the green light.
They have the Emirates, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Millennium Stadium in their portfolio, and are working with Manchester City on their redevelopment of the Etihad.
“Newcastle United would be a great job to be involved in. We’d bite your hands off. It’s one of the great mythical stadiums and we’d love to be involved in it,” Lee told i.
Any redesign will be far from straightforward, though, with listed buildings hemming in both the East Stand and potentially the Gallowgate End.
That is why a wide-ranging investigation – described by CEO Darren Eales as a “starting with a blank bit of paper and looking at everything that is possible” – is underway.
No timeframe for a decision has yet been announced by the club but the intention is to present a number of options and consult with supporters before making a final decision.
The most obvious question, which has vexed not only the current owners but also previous custodians who looked into stadium expansion, is how could you do it?
The club’s extensive due diligence on the project, which began last year, has included consulting architects, planning experts and lawyers about what is possible on a site that is restricted by the presence of listed buildings around the two sides of the stadium that are the most obvious points for redevelopment.
The project would be challenging but not unfeasible according to Lee, whose firm led on the design of the soon-to-be-opened Riverside stand at Fulham, which had to be built out over the bank of the Thames.
“In my career I’ve had a few jobs where people think it’s impossible,” Lee says.
“The Emirates was built on a trainline, [the site] is a triangle with no access. We thought that was difficult but it feels like every consecutive job after that gets more and more difficult.
“The Aviva stadium in Dublin reminds me of the potential St James’ Park redevelopment. They also didn’t want to move, it had 52,000 capacity but it was a predominantly standing stadium. They wanted 52,000 and a predominantly seating stadium on the same site but there were issues to overcome.
“There were heritage buildings north and south which are grade one listed and in Ireland the right to light [for those buildings] is unalienable. Elsewhere you can buy to compensate but not in Ireland.
“So what we did there was we mapped in three dimensions, we call it building information models where you get all this information into a report. You then end up with an envelope within which you can then design.
“I guess that’s how I would start with St James’ Park. You’ve got Leazes Terrace which is Grade 1-listed and sitting within a conservation area. The right to light will be a massive part of that as well as the contextual and historical setting. That’s the difficult bit.
“They’ve bought Strawberry Place now, which is good land for redevelopment too. Although again that has a Metro under it which again makes it that bit more complicated.
“If it were me, I’d start by mapping all those bits and trying to create some kind of workable envelope and see what you could get in terms of the capacity you want and the shape you want that would get approval.”
With little scope to build out, Lee’s answer to the dilemma is to expand both the East Stand and Gallowgate End vertically. It would potentially give the stadium, he says, a unique look.
“You’ve only got the Gallowgate and the East Stand to really expand at the current site and they would be pretty vertical which is not a bad thing,” he says.
“You would end up with some really interesting bowls and I think that’s the bit where you could start to get really nuanced and create something with genuine authenticity because it’s driven by those constraints rather than the whims of an architect.
“We haven’t done the analysis yet but you could definitely expand. It’s a really interesting challenge. The East Stand is the obvious expansion, it’s where you’d want to expand as well. But you may well end up with a situation like we did at the Aviva where there’s a tiny North Stand because it was the only way we could get the rights to light for the stands to the north.
“Even with those constraints you could comfortably go above 60,000, which is something you’d want to do because there is clearly demand for it.”
Lee is fascinating to listen to on how attitudes towards stadiums and live venues has changed in the last couple of decades. He says they are now almost like “town halls”, where people go to meet, socialise and even work through the week.
His firm is worldwide and doesn’t just design football stadiums. Populous were the company behind the Sphere in Las Vegas, the incredible new live venue that has the world’s first wraparound LED screen, and have been inundated with demand since Covid, a sign that the “bounce back” from the pandemic has been more profound than expected.
What is also noteworthy is that sports clubs are moving away from purpose-built new arenas located out of town and towards redeveloping existing buildings. It may create headaches for designers like Lee but it is “absolutely the right thing to do”.
“I think it’s a brilliant decision for Newcastle to stay at St James’ Park,” he says.
“There are different attitudes now to what they had a few years ago. The expansion of the Bernabeu by Real Madrid is perfect example. I guess 20 years ago they would have said ‘This is much too hard, let’s move to the outskirts of Madrid and sell the site off and make a fortune’.
“I think generally people want the buildings in their neighbourhoods, and yes that does make it much more complex. It makes us architects work that bit harder rather than having clean, flat sites. But as an architect I find these more complicated jobs much more challenging but much more interesting because of it.”
That is why Newcastle’s St James’ Park dilemma doesn’t put him off. “With the right design you could create something amazing,” he says.
“Being in the city centre, keeping all the traditions, all the local movements, business and pubs, I think that’s a great, great thing for the city.”
There is huge enthusiasm among Newcastle’s hierarchy for following the trend of other Premier League clubs who have added microbreweries and bars to their stadiums, generating further revenue outside of match day. Lee says that is the smart move.
“Look at Fulham and the Riverside Stand. It is going to be spectacular and it’s as much about non-event days as it is about event days,” he said.
“If you’re going to build these amazing bars and restaurants and micro breweries they should be built to work seven days a week and it just happens that two nights a week there’s a football game on and the fans use them.
“Daniel Levey calls it ‘sweating the asset’. Look back at what we did at Tottenham, the press conference room was built so it could be used for private hire.
“The press work room is also a cafe. The thinking was if we’re going to put 150 press seats in, don’t make it little cubicles, design it almost like a ‘WeWork’ and turn into a cafe. One half on matchdays is then for press.
“It’s working those assets, making them realise what the demand and potential is.
“St James’ Park has all of those opportunities to be a banqueting hub, a conferencing hub. The bars and restaurants, if they’re good enough, should be able to operate seven days a week and I think that’s a great opportunity and a great bit of place making for the city.”
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