Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack confirmed the cost of the club’s proposed new stadium could rise to £60 million.
When the Dons were given the legal go-ahead for a 20,000 stadium at Kingsford in 2019, the expected cost was around £50m.
Cormack insists a new stadium will now cost ‘probably 50m to 60m’ – if the Dons ‘are going to do it right’
Aberdeen are looking at an option recently proposed by Aberdeen City Council to include the club in a joint facility at the beach.
Cormack revealed if the beach project was to go ahead it could be one of the first ‘net zero’ stadiums in Europe.
The chairman confirmed a new stadium would not be delivered until the 2025-26 season at the earliest and that it would likely have a capacity of 16 to 17,000.
Cormack said: “The anticipated cost of the new stadium if we are going to do it right is probably 50 to 60m.
“We think 16,000-17,000 so far is the optimal number.
“Obviously we continue to have planning permission for the co-location at Kingsford.
“The beach facility was never made available to the club at any stage.
“What I will say is that we have got probably the best relationship with Aberdeen City Council that the club has had in two or three decades.
“The city centre masterplan is really the catalyst for this.
“The centre of Aberdeen needs revamped.
“You just have to walk down Union Street and take a look.
“Businesses in the city do not want to lose the football from the city.
“As part of the revamp of the beach, there are six or seven different projects.
“The option that we are looking at with the council just now is an integrated arena that will have really good quality expanded leisure facilities.
“An ice rink and stadium not far from the Beach Ballroom, which can be used as a fans’ zone and will be revamped by the City Council itself.
“The project is exciting.”
Exciting city centre masterplan
Aberdeen City Council launched a bid to convince Aberdeen to rethink plans to move to Kingsford, proposing situating a new stadium at the beach which would also include other sports facilities.
Talks are ongoing between Aberdeen City Council and the club, as well as charity Sport Aberdeen, over the proposals for a beach development.
The local authority have a £150m masterplan for the city centre and beach.
The Dons have planning permission to build a new stadium next to their £14m Cormack Park training facility at Kingsford, near Westhill.
Working through a business case
Last month the city growth and resources committee approved moves to press ahead with a full business case for their preferred option for the development.
That option will also include community leisure facilities and a refurbishment of the Beach Ballroom.
A motion was also approved last month allowing the council to explore the possibility of jointly funding the new facility along with the Dons.
The Dons chairman insists he is ‘encouraged by what the council wants to do’.
Cormack said: “Where we are at is that we are still working through as a club with some consultants.
“We are working through a business case.
“But the business case has to stack up to demonstrate it can produce more income and turnover than if we were landlocked at Pittodrie.
“All the indications are that’s the case.
“Once we get there and the council does the business case for their own facilities then we need to look at the funding capability and the funding of that.
“Obviously a key thing for us is having to be able to sell Pittodrie for housing.
“Whether that is affordable housing or private housing, I don’t know.
“Suffice to say we are encouraged by what the council wants to do.
“We are really just one participant with others in the mix for facilities at the beach for example.”
First ‘net zero’ stadium in Europe
Aberdeen had planned to relocate to Kingsford, but the Covid-19 pandemic saw those plans put on the backburner.
If a beach stadium project was to go ahead, Cormack revealed it could be one of the first ‘net zero’ stadia in Europe.
He said: “As Aberdeen wants to become a renewable city as opposed to an oil city, one aspect that’s important for ourselves and the council to look at is the feasibility of it being net zero.
“Not just partially, but fully heated and powered by renewable energy.
“The city council just signed a long-term agreement with BP to provide a hydrogen hub in the city.
“That will be one of the aspects we will look at deeply.
“I don’t know 100 per cent, but it could be one of the first announced fully heated and powered net zero stadiums in Europe, if not the world.”
Capacity will be 16,000 to 17,000
Cormack confirmed the capacity of a new stadium is likely to be 16,000 to 17,000.
Pittodrie’s capacity is around 20,000.
Aberdeen’s highest attendance this season was 15,533 for the Europa Conference League play-off loss to Qarabag on August 26.
Cormack says delivering a stadium with 16 to 17,000 capacity as opposed to 20,000 could save the Dons between £10m to £15m.
He insists it could take more than a century to make up that cost if the Dons were to go for a bigger capacity stadium.
He said: “Where we are just now, given the feedback that we’ve had, is that its probably going to be a 16 to 17,000 seater stadium.
“If we take a look at the crowds that come to the games the cost of building a 16 to 17,000, versus a 20,000-seater, stadium could be the best part of 10 to 15m more.
“Which, for the games where we do have more than 16, 0000 to 17,000, the payback might be 100 to 200 years for those games to take place.”
