Aberdeen FC has released a statement in which it announces that the start of construction of the Aberdeen Arena has been postponed by 12 months. This means that the new stadium is now planned to be ready at the start of the 2014/15 season.
In January this year Aberdeen received planning permission from the Aberdeen city council, however delays on the issue of land assembly, i.e. legal isses, have made it impossible to get the stadium ready before the start of the 2013/14 season. As the club did not like the idea of a mid-season move to a new stadium, it has instead rescheduled the plans by 12 months.
The club’s chief executive Duncan Fraser:
While the delay is disappointing, such is the scale of the project, it is imperative to ensure we are not giving ourselves unrealistic deadlines to work towards and we can now carry on with planning for a further two full seasons at Pittodrie.
The £30 million Aberdeen Arena, capacity 21,000, is planned at a site south of the city near Loirston Loch. The land of 112-year-old Pittodrie Stadium has been sold for residential use, though works cannot start until the Aberdeen Arena has been fully completed.