The bosses of Tottenham Hotspur have been left “hugely frustrated” with delays to the football club’s £800m new stadium, after receiving a report from contractor Mace revealing the extent of the issues with critical safety systems.
The report from Mace followed an earlier announcement that the stadium would open behind schedule and that the club was in “urgent meetings” with the contractor.
In a statement, Tottenham bosses said: “Delays are common, certainly for builds of this size and complexity, however we are hugely frustrated that this has occurred with these systems at such a late stage. Whilst we would have been able to mitigate other areas, we simply cannot compromise safety. This decision was unavoidable.
This is not a paywall. Registration allows us to enhance your experience across Construction Management and ensure we deliver you quality editorial content.
Registering also means you can manage your own CPDs, comments, newsletter sign-ups and privacy settings.
“Our construction team is working hard to overcome these issues and we shall keep you all updated.”
Spurs’ upcoming matches against Liverpool (15 September) and Cardiff City (6 October) will be switched to Wembley, as will an NFL match scheduled for 14 October.
The club will also be unable to hold test events on 27 August and 1 September which will need to be rescheduled to take place ahead of any first official match in the new stadium in order to obtain a safety licence.
A Mace spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, our routine testing of the critical safety systems has flagged up issues that need to be addressed before the planned test events can go ahead. It is extremely disappointing that – as advised by the Club – a further two Premier League matches and the NFL game will now be played at Wembley, particularly for Tottenham Hotspur fans, but I am sure people will appreciate safety is our highest priority. The club and the construction team are working diligently to complete the iconic stadium as soon as possible.
“Although these delays are obviously frustrating, once complete the new stadium is going to leave a fantastic, lasting legacy and will be a project everyone involved will be proud to be associated with.”
