The Northumberland Development Project is a mixed-use development project that centres around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. On opening in April 2019, the stadium had a capacity for 62,062 spectators, later increased to 62,303, and was designed to host football as well as NFL games. The development plans also include 585 new homes, a 180-room hotel, a local community health centre, the Tottenham Experience, a Spurs museum and club shop, an extreme sports facility, as well as the Lilywhite House, which contains a Sainsbury's supermarket, a sixth form college and the club's headquarters.
Plans for the project were first announced in 2008 and a planning application submitted in 2009. The project however was revised several times and delayed due to objections by conservation groups and a protracted dispute over a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on existing businesses at the proposed development site. A revised plan was first approved in 2010 by the Haringey Council, and following further revisions, building started in September 2012. Only part of this initial plan was executed, and the construction of the stadium did not commence until 2016 after the CPO dispute has been resolved and a new design approved by Haringey Council. The stadium opening date was revised several times but eventually opened during the 2018–19 season on 3 April 2019.
The new stadium also serves as a venue for at least two of the National Football League (NFL)'s London Games each season. The NFL invested £10 million ($12.8m) in Tottenham's new stadium, just over 1% of the budget. The stadium features the world's first dividing retractable pitch, and it is the first stadium in the UK to have two pitches inside: a retractable grass pitch for football, and a synthetic surface underneath for NFL games and other events. The project is estimated to cost around £1 billion and is intended to be a catalyst for a wider regeneration scheme in Tottenham.
Origin
Beginning in the 1980s, the Tottenham home ground White Hart Lane was redeveloped, and in order to comply with the recommendation of the Taylor Report, it was turned into an all-seater stadium. The capacity of the stadium was reduced from 50,000 in 1979 to around 36,000 by the time it was completed in 1998. The capacity was by then lower than other major English clubs with many of these clubs also planning to expand further, and Tottenham began to explore ways of increasing the stadium capacity so that it could better compete financially with other clubs.
Various options were considered over a number of years. In 2000, the club under Alan Sugar submitted a plan to rebuild the East Stand as a three-tier structure to increase the ground capacity to 44,000. As the stadium was hemmed in by other buildings and conservation areas that limited expansion, the club in 2001 (by then owned by ENIC) also considered moving to a proposed new stadium in Picketts Lock planned to be used for the 2005 World Athletics Championships. The Picketts Lock plan however fell through when the government decided that it was too expensive and scrapped the plan, while the East Stand plan was also shelved in 2004 due to concerns over transport infrastructure and council objections. Other suggestions were mooted, including ground-share with rival Arsenal, and buying Wembley Stadium.
In 2007, the club announced that it was considering redevelopment of the current site or a move to a new site, although no firm decision on the preferred option was made. While the various proposals were being considered, the club also bought up properties around White Hart Lane when they became available. In April 2008 it was revealed in the press that investigations were taking place into the possible use of the Wingate industrial estate immediately adjacent to the north of White Hart Lane. If planning permission were to be granted and there was agreement of the existing businesses there, a 55–60,000-seat stadium could be constructed on the White Hart Lane site. This proposal would become the Northumberland Development Project.
In 2010, so as to keep all options open, the club also registered an interest in using the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Olympics."Tottenham and West Ham lead London 2012 stadium bid" BBC News online, Accessed 12 November 2010 Tottenham proposed that the stadium be demolished, and a new 60,000-capacity football stadium without a running track be built in its place, at the same time offering to redevelop the stadium at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre as an athletics stadium. However, the government indicated that the running track should be retained at the Olympic Stadium, and the bid was won by West Ham United in 2011 as it was committed to keeping the track.West Ham chosen as preferred Olympic Stadium tenant BBC Sport online Retrieved 12 February 2011 After its attempts to overturn the Olympic Park Legacy Company's decision failed, the club abandoned the Olympic Stadium bid in October 2011. It focused its attention on the Northumberland Development Project, and announced its commitment to the building of a new stadium in Tottenham in January 2012.
Planning history
First plans
In November 2007, it was reported that the club was considering the building of a new 52,000-capacity stadium, to be masterminded by Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Agency, who had worked on development of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. In this plan the club would leave White Hart Lane for two seasons, possibly sharing ground with West Ham. In October 2008, the club announced that it was planning for the Northumberland Development Project with a 60,000-capacity stadium. In December 2008, images for the new stadium were released, followed by plans for the project with a 58,000-capacity stadium in April 2009 for public consultation. In this plan, the new stadium would be built alongside the existing White Hart Lane. The stadium was designed by KSS Design Group, While the project masterplan was by Make Architects and it contained a public square and two amphitheatres designed by Martha Schwartz Partners, with Buro Happold responsible for the engineering and technical aspects of the build. In October 2009, planning application for a 56,000-seat stadium including proposal for 434 new homes, a 150-room hotel, a club museum and shop, and a supermarket was submitted, with a view to start construction in 2010. However, the plan to demolish eight locally listed buildings and two nationally listed buildings was criticised by English Heritage, and the Government's advisory body on architecture, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, as well as other conservation groups.
In response to the objections, the club withdrew its planning application in favour of a revised plan in May 2010. This plan retained some of the listed buildings (although the Grade II-listed Fletcher House would still be demolished), reduced the number of new-build residential houses and improved the public spaces. The revised planning application was approved by the Planning Committee of Haringey Council on 30 September 2010, followed by the then-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, on 25 November 2010. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs indicated that she would not call in the planning application and that English Heritage would not seek further consideration of the listed building consent application for the project on 9 December 2010. Nevertheless, the club chairman Daniel Levy suggested that the project may not be viable due to the increasing costs that came from the requirements demanded by Haringey Council, Transport for London and English Heritage, and that the club may leave the area for the Olympic Stadium.
In August 2011, rioting started in a deprived area of Tottenham, which concentrated the minds of the local authority keen to keep Spurs in the community. On 20 September 2011, the club concluded the Section 106 agreement with Haringey Council to pay for local facilities in the area should the project go ahead, and planning permission was granted. The Greater London Authority and Haringey Council announced on 28 September that it would relieve the club of all community infrastructure payments that planners would normally require, estimated at £8.5m, and to provide a further £8.5m for regeneration and infrastructure projects. In a joint statement with Haringey Council in January 2012, Tottenham announced that it would stay in North Tottenham and work with the council to rejuvenate the area. The Section 106 agreement was revised by the Haringey Council in February 2012; the council waived the requirement for 50% affordable housing in the development, and the £16.436m investment in the community was reduced to £0.477m.
Tottenham Hotspur had originally planned to move into the new stadium, while it was partially built, for the beginning of the 2012–13 season, and the stadium would be completed by the end of the following season. The project however was delayed by the need to submit revised plans and a protracted dispute over the purchase of a factory on Paxton Road, and the completion date was put back to 2016, then to the summer 2017.Tottenham release financial results and give new stadium update fcbusiness 2 April 2014 , Accessed 20 February 2015 Only part of the plan, the construction of Lilywhite House, would be implemented while the dispute was ongoing, and the rest of the scheme was later redesigned.
Compulsory purchase order proceedings In March 2012, Haringey Council approved plans to hand over council-owned land in the redevelopment area, including part of Wingate Trading Estate as well as Paxton Road and Bill Nicholson Way, to Spurs. It also agreed on a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to buy the remaining property on Paxton Road belonging to Archway Sheet Metal Works that had yet to sell to Spurs. In April 2013 a Public Inquiry was held about the last remaining property to be acquired. Following this, the Planning Inspector recommended refusal of Haringey's application for a Compulsory Purchase Order in his report dated 24 September 2013, because he thought it was unacceptable that the London Borough of Haringey had waived the affordable housing requirement in the original S.106 Agreement.
On 11 July 2014, a much delayed decision by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, agreed with a compulsory purchase order made by the London Borough of Haringey enabling the project to proceed. In September 2014, the remaining business with two plots on the development site, Archway Sheet Metal Works, initiated a legal challenge in the High Court that the compulsory purchase order was unlawful and invalid.Tottenham stadium delay means club face season away from home BBC Sport website 10 December 2014, Accessed 20 February 2015 In November 2014, Archway Sheet Metal was subjected to a suspected arson attack, which destroyed their factory on the site. On 20 February 2015, the High Court judge ruled that the compulsory purchase order was legal and valid. He also refused permission to appeal though it could be referred directly to the Court of Appeal,plans for new stadium given massive boost as business looking to block move loses High Court appeal. Daily Telegraph 20 February 2015, Accessed 20 February 2015 which on 13 March 2015 Archway Steel confirmed to the Club it would not be pursuing.Northumberland Development Project Update THFC News website 13 March 2015, Accessed 15 March 2015 On 31 March 2015, in a joint statement the Club and Archway Sheet Metal Works announced that agreement had been concluded on the sale of the remaining plots on the Paxton Road required for the development to proceed.Joint Statement THFC website published 31 March 2015, Accessed 31 March 2015
New plans