Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium Beats Fulham’s Riverside Stand to top award
Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium has beaten Fulham’s Riverside Stand, Sevilla’s La Cartuja and arenas in Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan and Morocco to a major international award.
The 53,000-seater stadium in Liverpool’s Bramley Moore Dock opened its doors earlier this year and has quickly become one of the country’s top sports venues.
It was named Project of the Year at the TheStadiumBusiness Design and Development Awards ahead of Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Estadio La Cartuja in Seville, Fulham FC’s Riverside Stand, Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong, the Nagasaki Stadium City and Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
“We are absolutely thrilled to land the Project of the Year award,” said Alix Waldron, Everton’s Director of New Stadium Development.
“We’re all immensely proud of Hill Dickinson Stadium and to see it recognised by industry experts is testament to our belief that this is a world-class venue.
“We’d like to thank the judging panel for their consideration and reiterate our thanks to everyone who helped contribute to making Hill Dickinson Stadium a home that all Evertonians can be immensely proud of.”
Hill Dickinson Stadium was designed by American architect Dan Meis and cost an estimated £750m to construct.
Inside the design of Hill Dickinson Stadium
Speaking to Morning Wire in February, Meis said he had tried to “capture the lightning in a bottle that is Goodison Park”, the club’s home until this year.
To do this he incorporated brick latticework in homage to Goodison, as well as a vast glass wall at the back of the south stand that affords views of the water.
“I don’t believe in this big, shiny object with LED video screens everywhere,” he added.
“I think that this really comes down to what makes a football game so special – particularly an English football game. There’s just nothing like that experience.
“With Everton, we worked really hard to make it feel like the building kind of grew out of the historic fabric of that area. And I think that’s important.”
As well as regular Everton home games, Hill Dickinson Stadium has already hosted international rugby league and has been chosen to stage next year’s Magic Weekend.
It has also been nominated to host matches at the 2035 Fifa Women’s World Cup, which will take place in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.