Club said it would work to protect existing jobs on scheme
Liverpool has revealed it is planning for a further delay to the completion of its new Anfield Road stand after contractor Buckingham ceased trading last week.
Work stopped on the £80m job last Thursday, a day after the builder filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, giving itself 10 days protection from creditors in order to explore a sale.
The club announced last month that the KSS-designed stand, which will add an extra 7,000 seats to Anfield, would not be ready in time for its first home game against Bournemouth.
Only the lower tier of the stand opened for the match last weekend, with fans watching the Reds secure a 3-1 win.
In a statement yesterday, chief executive Billy Hogan said the phased opening announced in July remained the plan and that there would be “more clarity” on timescales over the coming weeks.
“Timing, obviously, is incredibly fluid right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty around where we are and obviously in time that will become more clear,” he said, adding that while the club was still targetting an October opening, he did not want to “set any false expectations”.
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“If Buckingham does enter into administration then we’ll need to address any delays that may arise from completing the new stand as a result of that,” he said.
“We will of course work with Buckingham and any other contractors who may be appointed in the future to retain as many of the existing jobs and expertise which have been a part of the project all along”
One of the UK’s best known stadium builders, Buckingham blamed its troubles on “rapidly escalating contract losses and a sharp reduction in liquidity” for its circumstances, citing three unnamed stadium contracts and an earthworks job in Coventry.
In accounts filed at Companies House just before last Christmas, the firm admitted it had racked up a £14.2m loss on an unnamed stadium contract, thought to be Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground.
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