Placemaking goals: The role of stadia as hospitality destinations

Stuart Forbes of Stuart Forbes Associates explores the role of stadia as multifaceted hospitality destinations in urban regeneration schemes.

Vision and ambition

Just a decade ago, top tier sports stadia cost about £200 million to build, an amount that could be paid back over time by ticket sales, sponsorship and TV rights. Now, by contrast, it’s not uncommon to see staggering investments of £2 billion plus, begging the question of why the investment has escalated so dramatically over such a short time.

One answer is the new scale of ambition. Today’s sports club ownership, often led by consortia or UHNWIs, have recognised the potential of what they hold – a powerful brand, an existing building located in either what is, or could become, prime real estate and the guaranteed footfall of fans which, nevertheless, needs to be supplemented by other groups of users.

Stadium design has always been about the customer experience. However, what that experience is has changed and most recently, technological advancements have enabled a fan-centric experience striving to achieve new levels of comfort and engagement. Stadia are increasingly equipped with high-speed WiFi, giant LED screens, augmented reality experiences and interactive apps that allow fans to engage with the event, access replays, or order food and drinks from their seats. However, for most of the year there are almost no fans in the stadia, rendering the need for year-round use to make financial sense of this investment.

Call this mission creep, but our current generation of owners are setting the pace for others to follow and new thinking has resulted in the design of stadia to accommodate multifaceted businesses seeking to maximise numerous forms of revenue generation aside from the core sport activity.

Take, for example, the €1.76 billion spent on transforming Real Madrid’s Bernabéu Stadium from a concrete shell into a translucent steel structure with an innovative and multifunctional arena for celebrity concerts as well as football, new hospitality lounges, and some 4,500 additional seats.

The new “stadium districts”

Arguably, however, the most significant aspect of the new investment model is the urban renewal these stadia bring. Surrounding areas are sympathetically developed with a range of mixed uses including shopping centres, restaurants, offices, and conference centres. Increasingly, our planning legislation and design guidelines engage with the need for a much better consideration of our public realm, where stadia often serve as the catalysts for urban regeneration. This makes them part of a larger economic ecosystem, encouraging fans to arrive early or stay after events and non-fans to use the state-of-the-art facilities as well as the uniquely designed hospitality spaces.

Fulham Football Club

In 2019 Sahid Khan, owner of Fulham Football Club announced his vision for the development of the new Riverside Stand. In a press statement he said: “Make no mistake, the Riverside development will be a location like no other, a real game-changer for Fulham Football Club, our neighbourhood, and all of London. Our aim is to create a world-class destination for fans and guests to experience and enjoy, whilst retaining the charm that Craven Cottage exudes within our very own section of the River Thames. In doing so, we will also safeguard the club’s future at Craven Cottage, forever the rightful home for Fulham.”

Fulham Football Club stands on the banks of the Thames at the Hammersmith end of The Bishops Park which was first opened in 1893 on condition that it be laid out and maintained for public recreation. However, the Craven Cottage football ground brought an abrupt end to the riverwalk which was a prominent feature of the Bishops Park Embankment.

A key component of the design of the new stand was the development of an uninterrupted river walk between Putney and Hammersmith bridges, which aligned the visions of the club and the council’s community plans. Together, The River Walk and stadium concourse create a connection between the stadium and public realm, a feature which remains open to the public on non-match days, allowing the positive integration of the club’s facilities into the local community infrastructure.

Craven Cottage sits predominantly in a residential area. Its physical dominance in scale and form has done little to break down the barrier between club and neighbourhood; in fact, it was a stark reminder of the difference between the two. By contrast, the design of the new stand aimed to create community integration wherever possible: a members club for West London residents, restaurants and coffee bars, a spa and gym with roof top pool, a hotel with amazing river views, and a basement entertainment suite – all available for use by the public during non-match times while elevating the fan experience on match days.

Stadiums for all seasons

As a multifaceted destination, the building will always be ‘open to all’ and seeks to monetise the value of the real estate. This meant it was key to consider the model split between match and non-match days, and the mix of spaces has been a careful balancing act to establish commercially viable operations in each modal shift with a premium offer in mind.

The Dugout, for example, is a versatile entertainment space – a tech-enabled black box environment capable of hosting football fans, concerts and corporate events with a huge LED screen, retractable stage and seating, and surround sound. Materials and fittings have been sourced from the UK, Europe and Asia; bespoke joinery and one-off pieces achieve a contemporary feel; and the curation of artwork in the members club and hotel speak of a luxury hospitality destination.

Regeneration, not replication

Football stadia are by nature, large and often complex pieces of modern engineering but, as we can attest to, a good building is more than just its physical form. Buildings this large engage with and influence the communities we live in. So it’s with good reason that we strive to achieve a versatile building form which makes a positive contribution. Since there are no cheap solutions for this ambition, monetising all forms of capital investment in the stadium is a given in today’s marketplace.

This aspiration continues to grow, not merely replicating what has gone before but with each club seeking to look at its local context and create a genuine piece of placemaking as well as a viable multifunctional destination. The proposed Old Trafford redevelopment, currently led by Foster + Partners, will see the stadium playing a central role in the wider regeneration of its area in Manchester. Meanwhile at Twickenham, owned by the RFU, £500 million is reportedly to be invested on major works to enhance customer experience, including an improved rail network and riverboat connections as well as pod-based transport systems, in addition to better engagement with the Thames, thus creating sustainable local community assets which will have year-round benefit.

Populous are the lead architect of the Riverside Stand at Craven Cottage with Stuart Forbes Associates as lead designer.