Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton FC’s £9m Goodison upgrade given go ahead
EVERTON FC was given the go ahead for a £9m upgrade of Goodison Park.[LNB]Liverpool council's planning committee yesterday agreed the proposal for a four-storey, stand-alone development which will include a football museum, hospitality suite and office block.[LNB] The building will stand where the EFC lounge marquee currently sits at the west corner of the Park End car park.[LNB] Planners heard from the club's planning consultant Colin Williams that the current hospitality offering at the club was 'one of the poorest in the Premier League'.[LNB]The development will see a rooftop hospitality and cafe suite which will have views across Stanley Park and the Mersey.[LNB]The development will also mean that the club can upgrade the matchday hospitality suites inside the stadium by freeing up space through moving back office staff into the new building.[LNB]Planning consultant Mr Williams said: 'Everton are obviously very keen to improve hospitality offer of the club, probably one of the poorest in the Premier League.[LNB]'This will enhance it. There will also be new retail opportunities, and the old [mega store] building will be refurbished and used by the Everton Foundation.'[LNB]Tim Groom, of architects Formrooms, added: 'The museum will be a real visitors' attraction, not just for Everton fans but for the wider community.[LNB]Spealing about the design of the building, which will be made from fractured glass referencing the clubs blue and grey colour colours, he added: 'When we met with Robert Elstone and [chairman] Bill Kenwright they said they wanted something that would show off the club's ambitions.'
