| Wembley Stadium is one of the world's most famous
football stadiums, being the English national football ground since
1923. Originally known as the Empire Stadium, it was built for the
British Empire Exhibition of 1924, at a cost of £750,000, on the former
site of Watkins' Tower. Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton were the
architects and Sir Owen Williams was the Head Engineer. The stadium's
distinctive Twin Towers became its trademark. Also well known were the
thirty nine steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and
collect a trophy (and winners'/losers' medals).
The Stadium's first turf was cut by King George V and it was first
opened to the public on 28 April 1923. In 1934 the Empire Pool was
built. The Wembley Stadium Collection is held by the National Football
Museum.
Redevelopment
The stadium closed in 2000 and was demolished in 2003 for
redevelopment. The new Wembley will be the most expensive stadium in the
UK, and have the second largest capacity in Europe.
The new design is for an all-seated capacity of 90,000 protected from
the elements by a sliding roof. The stadium's signature feature will be
a circular section lattice arch of 7 metre internal diameter with a 315
metre span, erected some 22° off true, and rising to 133 metres tall.
According to "Guinness World Records 2006", the archway is the world's
longest unsupported roof structure. It features an aircraft warning
light at the top, the only stadium in the world to have one. The arch
was raised for the first time during construction of the Stadium in June
2004. This is the stadium's answer to a new trademark, with the old
trademark being the "Twin Towers". The stadium will also be linked with
Wembley Park Station on the London Underground via Olympic Way, and
Wembley Central via the White Horse Bridge. A "platform system" has also
been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, however
installation of the platform decreases the stadium's capacity to
approximately 60,000. When completed, the building will have 2000
toilets, more than any other building in the world.
At first a string of financial and political difficulties delayed the
work for over two years. The new stadium is currently under
construction, with the total cost of the project (including local
transport infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of financing)
estimated in 2003 to be £757 million. It was scheduled to open on 13th
May 2006, with the first game being that year's FA Cup Final. However,
worries were expressed as to whether the stadium would actually be
completed on time. In October 2005, Sports Minister Richard Caborn
announced: "They say the Cup Final will be there, barring six feet of
snow or something like that". However in December 2005, the builders
admitted that there was a "material risk" that the stadium might not be
ready in time for the Cup Final and in February 2006, these worries were
confirmed by the FA moving the game to Cardiff's, Millennium Stadium.
On 20th March 2006, part of the roof of the new development collapsed
forcing 3,000 workers to evacuate the stadium and raising further doubts
over the completion date which was already behind schedule. On 23rd
March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement.
GMB Union leader Steve Kelly said that the problem had been caused by
the pipes not being properly laid, and that the repair would take
months. A spokesman for developers Multiplex said that they did not
believe this would "have any impact on the completion of the stadium",
which was then scheduled to be completed on 31st March 2006.
On 30th March 2006, the developers announced that the Wembley Stadium
would not be ready until 2007. All competitions and concerts planned
were to be moved to suitable locations.
The new stadium remains unfinished!
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