Latest Nottingham Forest news as Reds owner Evangelos Marinakis considers moving away from the City Ground
A Nottingham-based architect has designed alternative plans for a potential redevelopment of Nottingham Forest’s City Ground.
The Reds are considering leaving their home of 125 years, with owner Evangelos Marinakis outlining how relocating to a “bigger facility will set the club on the right path”. A site in Toton, several miles from Nottingham city centre, has been identified as a potential option.
Marinakis sees building a 50,000-seater stadium and a new training ground on the same complex as a way to “elevate the club to the next level”. But architect Matt Drewitt believes there is a way for Forest to do that without upping sticks – and it involves rotating the angle of the pitch.
Drewitt, who studied in the city and bounced his ideas off his Reds-supporting best friend, has been working on his designs for the past few years. He is keen for his creation not to be seen as stepping on anyone’s toes – amid the club’s previous redevelopment plans, first announced in 2019 – but more as an alternative for what might be possible at Forest’s current location – a way of sparking debate.
“To move away from the City Ground, I think would be a travesty,” he said. “To answer the question why we started looking at it, and in recent context what I’ve done, is to show the ownership, the chairman (Tom Cartledge) and the fans that you can stay at the City Ground, you can have a larger stadium, it can be something of architectural note, if you consider some of these moves.
“That’s why I’ve presented it as a bit of a shopping list. Let’s aim for the clouds and come down from there if we need to. Hopefully you wouldn’t have to.
“You get those key strategic moves in turning the pitch, piling into the Trent and we could go from 50,000 up. If it was me, I’d be going for over 60,000, because then I think it puts you into Uefa compliance.
“That in turn, in my opinion, would have a fantastic impact on the city and the region more widely, because I do think we’re an overlooked region. Nottingham Forest Football Club are the exhibition to the world, not only for Nottingham but for the region more widely.”
Drewitt says rebuilding on the City Ground site but with the pitch at a different angle would allow for an increased capacity. He said: “By rotating the pitch and pulling away from the houses to the south, not only will the contextual condition improve with proximity to houses, but the club will offer up greater volumes of the site as public space. It is possible to cantilever a third tier partially over the Trent, whilst also offering a generous quantity of public space at ground floor. Interacting with the river, the stadium will have a pier pontoon for passengers, visitors and the commercial arm of NFFC’s hospitality team. The key idea is to create a sporting village similar to other world class destinations, as well as maximising the site’s usage and generating as much revenue as possible for the club to help them be more competitive on the pitch. There are very few locations in the world better for a sports stadium.”
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