Hearts lodge application for £51m ground redevelopment

Published on Wednesday 16 January 2008 09:52

HEARTS have submitted a formal planning application to City of Edinburgh Council for the £51million redevelopment of Tynecastle.

Proposals for the extensive regeneration project have been finalised and were lodged with the council's development department this morning, the Evening News can reveal.

Hearts intend to demolish their dilapidated main stand and construct a state-of-the-art replacement, bringing stadium capacity to around 23,000 by 2010

The new two-tier, 10,000-seat structure will incorporate administration offices, commercial office space, residential apartments and state-of-the-art conference and banqueting facilities. There will also be leisure facilities such as a hotel, bars, restaurants, a gymnasium and a new club store built on site.

The multi-million pound project will mostly be funded by Ukio Bankas Investment Group, Hearts' parent company which is owned by the club's majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov. It is expected to create 250 new full-time jobs and 57 part-time opportunities.

Roman Romanov, chairman and acting chief executive at Tynecastle, said: "Today's submission of the planning application is a major step forward in realising our aim of providing a first-class football stadium in Scotland's capital city.

"Our plans will bring great benefits to both Hearts and the city of Edinburgh. As such, we are hopeful that our submission will be looked on favourably given the added value and economic benefit that it brings. In our mind, the result will undoubtedly lead to Edinburgh being home to one of the country's top football stadiums while also offering benefits to those that live and work in the surrounding area.

"We are very focused on delivering a truly spectacular development for our players, supporters, sponsors, partners and neighbours. The newly-developed stadium will ultimately lead to the creation of over 300 new jobs and provide an economic boost of at least 1.2 million per season to both the immediate area and the wider city economy."

The eye-catching development, shown in our exclusive Evening News pictures, should ensure Tynecastle becomes the fourth largest football stadium in Scotland as well as being fully compliant with all UEFA regulations for European competition.

Pedro Lopez, Hearts' deputy chief executive, has liaised with planning executives for the last 18 months over the new stand. Preliminary discussions with senior council officials have reached a satisfactory conclusion and Hearts' application will now be assessed before being passed to the council's executive committee for final authorisation.

The club remain hopeful that building work could begin later this year and have already canvassed supporters for their views on where the team should play during redevelopment. The options put forward by the club were: staying at Tynecastle and using the remaining three stands; moving to Murrayfield; renting Easter Road; renting Almondvale Stadium in Livingston or East End Park in Dunfermline.

The current main stand was built in 1914 and was designed by architect Archibald Leitch.