Chelsea FC have appointed a developer to investigate the possibilities of a move to the site of the Battersea power station. The move is pre-emptive, as no concrete decisions have been made yet about moving to a different site and Chelsea will first need to buy back a freehold fans have over the land Stamford Bridge is built on, but the club wants to keep its options open in case opportunities come up.
It has furthermore hired architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox to draw up designs of a future stadium at the site that could hold up to 60,000 spectators.
Battersea power station is an out-of-use power station located just south of the river Thames not far from Stamford Bridge. The owners of the site have been looking into different ways to develop the area for years, however so far haven’t been able to find the funding to do so. The stadium is supposed to be built just south-west of the power station.
In the last few years Chelsea FC has been looking at options to either increase the capacity of the current Stamford Bridge, or build a new stadium at a different site in the west of London. However, in order to do so it first needs to obtain the rights to the land Stamford Bridge is built one, which are currently owned by a company made up of 12,000 fans that was established to safeguard the future of Chelsea and Stamford Bridge. Thus far Chelsea has been unable to convince fans, who are weary to give current and future Chelsea ownership full power on the destination of the club.
© Featured image: Jimmy Harris