Developer Quintain has unveiled a major redesign of the walk-up to the historic Wembley Stadium this morning, opening a new public space which it hopes can rival iconic London sites such as Trafalgar Square.
The UK’s biggest football stadium is now fronted by 48 granite steps spanning 40m across, topped by a 13,700 sq ft rounded piazza at the foot of the building.
As well as leading up to the ground on match days, the so-called Olympic Landing will also play host to concerts and other public events, according to James Saunders, chief executive of Quintain, which developed the site.
“It is going to be one of the great, iconic open spaces in London,” he said. “The only steps that are of this nature elsewhere in the city are outside the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square.”
Speaking to EG, Saunders added that, while the 1970s pedestrian ramps leading up to the stadium were “only really of any use on match day,” the new space would be more versatile. “I am hoping that it will have proper everyday use, where people sit on the steps, congregate there and even watch outdoor concerts there.”
The landing looks out onto a significantly widened street leading up to the stadium, dubbed Wembley Boulevard, designed to attract more retailers to the area. Earlier this year, Amazon opened one of its first till-free grocery stores in the UK there, while Adidas has also recently increased the size of its store at the London Designer Outlet on the street.
Quintain hopes that the 85-acre Wembley Park, which will eventually be home to some 20,000 residents and could attract 20m visitors annually, will ultimately draw in more retail spend than other areas of London such as Camden and Victoria.
The opening also comes less than two months before the postponed Euro 2020 football tournament is due to be played in the UK and other European countries, with the final scheduled to take place at Wembley. Even with pandemic-induced reductions in crowd sizes, organisers hope the 11 July match will bring around 45,000 fans to the stadium.
Liam Boylan, stadium director of Wembley, added: “These plans are more than a decade in the making, and we’re so pleased with the outcome. We’re looking forward to being able to welcome fans back to Wembley Park to experience and enjoy the Olympic Steps themselves in the near future.”
Quintain hailed the site’s opening as a “new chapter” for its decades-long regeneration scheme in the area. So far, it has built around 3,000 build-to-rent homes and one 100,000 sq ft office block, with 3,770 homes and four more office buildings still to come over the next seven years, Saunders said.
He added: “This elegant new public space celebrates Wembley Park’s history, embraces its future and will be a welcome new space for the residents of Wembley Park and the millions more who will visit the neighbourhood to work, shop and play. As we look to a post-pandemic future, it is more important than ever that developers like Quintain give space back to the people who call our neighbourhoods home.”
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