The completion of the final piece of the distinctive ‘barrel’ roof at Everton’s new stadium has been caught on camera with some spectacular video footage.
In the space of one afternoon on Monday, the roof structure around the Blues’ 52,888 capacity future home was joined up on all four sides of the building at Bramley-Moore Dock and the process was captured by Mister Drone, a drone flying enthusiast from Birkenhead who specialises in football stadium footage and shares his filming on social media.
The East Stand roof lift shows the last sections being raised into place on the side of the stadium that faces out towards Regent Road.
These barrel sections support the upper-level terracing of the bowl, providing lateral restraint and spreading the permanent load into the main structure. They will also support a series of cantilevering trusses, each up to 60m long, which will be assembled pitchside at ground level and support the steel canopy that extends and spans over the top of the seating.
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A temporary staircase has already been installed to the roof in north stand to allow roofers to commence the permanent roof coverings with three tiers of perforated steel cladding to be added to complete the exterior.
Everton are scheduled to move into their new stadium during the 2024/25 season but with the Everton Fans’ Forum revealing last week that they had been given a presentation by the Everton Fan Advisory Board stressing that while progress remains good, the project might not be ready for the start of that campaign.
The ECHO understands that contractors Laing O’Rourke are working to a timetable that ends in December 2024 and as things stand, Everton are looking to be in a position to be able to depart Goodison Park by the turn of the calendar year going into 2025 but that raises the dilemma over a potential mid-season move.
Although the Blues would ideally want to get into a facility that majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri said in January was costing £760million as soon as possible, there could be an appetite within the club to wait until the end of the 2024/25 and at the time of publication, an ECHO vote on the issue has 57% of readers preferring to defer until the start of 2025/26 rather than move mid-season.
