Drone footage has revealed work has begin on a car park in Nelson Dock next door to Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The car park is set to be a temporary measure as Everton continue to progress a purchase of the adjoining land. Colin Chong is heading up the negotiations for Everton and if successful, buying Nelson Dock from Peel Ports would be the biggest signing at the club of the summer.
A successful purchase would be the key to expansion for Everton and solve the biggest issue the club faces as it prepares for the new club’s first season at the spectacular 53,000-capacity venue.
The Dock Wall, a beautiful Grade II-listed feature of the stadium is simultaneously one of the best features of the surrounding area and the most restrictive.
While the Dock Wall is a stunning entrance to the Fan Plaza and a natural barrier that allows the club to host events of up to 17,000 people, it is also the only way in and out of the stadium area.
There is also the issue of the stunning Grade II-listed Bascule Bridge, which serves as a bottleneck to Regent Road thanks to weight limits. While the bridge can hold HGVs, the first test event saw a stop-go system implemented to manage crowds heading into the city centre.
In the notes for the stadium construction there are two points of entry to the stadium that Everton are not yet using. At the corner of the West and South Stands, next to the river, there is a plan to install an entrance onto Nelson Dock.
The land at Nelson Dock has already had some work done. Recent drone footage shows a newly laid and marked car park on Nelson Dock next to the Docker’s Clock alongside the river.
The car park should only be a temporary measure; while the latest Land Registry data shows Peel Ports still owns the land at Nelson Dock, Everton are in talks to buy it themselves and the car park site would need to be converted into the final section of a River Walk that will stretch from Hill Dickinson Stadium right through to the city centre.
A second entry point would also be added inside the dock wall at the corner of the South and East stand. On that corner there will be plans for a large hotel to serve the stadium and retail spaces. A ‘Dock Wall Walk’ would be a second route into the city centre that misses the Bascule Bridge entirely by navigating inwards through the centre of Nelson Dock.
Everton’s purchase of Nelson Dock is key. Not only will it ensure the club can control the buildings and services installed next to its £750m stadium, it also gives the club a better chance to expand the stadium in future thanks to the increased ability to control and manage crowd flow in and out of the stadium.
Onwards through Collingwood Dock and onto the derelict area linking the docks to the city centre and plans are already underway to transform the land and properly link the city centre to Bramley Moore.
Work will begin in September on the large patch of derelict land to transform it into a stunning park and river walk. Construction will begin on the parkland within weeks and residential buildings will follow thanks to £50m investment from Homes England.
The £5.5bn Liverpool Waters plan will be further bolstered when several giant skyscrapers are erected in the St Edwards Triangle area near Costco, completing a full, cohesive walkway from the city centre and ferry terminal through to Bramley Moore Dock and the new Everton Stadium.
That walkway will not only help to ease congestion on Regent Road, or help the Friedkin Group ensure any new building and development around the stadium are in keeping with the club’s vision for the area, but it also could help for future expansion of the capacity by offering two new routes out of the stadium and onwards to the city centre.