Plans unveiled for ‘mini-murrayfield’ next to Scotland’s national stadium
● Hopes arena would be ready for 2019-20 season with 7,800 capacity
Rugby bosses have unveiled multi-million pound plans to build a 7,800-capacity “mini Murrayfield” next to Scotland’s national stadium.
If it gets the go-ahead, the new arena – to be built on the back pitches, currently used for training – will be the new homeofedinburghrugby,but could also be used for football matches and concerts.
Scottish Rugby chief operating officer Dominic Mckay said the new venue representedasignificantinvestmentand would be “great for the city”.
A detailed planning application was lodged with the city council yesterday. The hope is planning permission could be granted around September this year and the new arena would be ready for play by the start of the 2019-20 season in September next year.
Edinburgh Rugby has had several temporary homes across the Capital, including Meadowbank and Myreside and played the latter half of last season in the main stadium at Murrayfield.
Mr Mckay said: “We’ve been looking for a home for Edinburgh Rugby for a number of years and we’ve been around a number of venues, whether that’s Meggetland or Myreside or Meadowbank, but we’ve never quite found the right solution.
“What we wanted to do was create a solution which was permanent and which was befitting of a professional club which is travelling across Europe, playing against counterparts in really quality venues.
0 An artists impression of the proposed new venue for Edinburgh Rugby next to Murrayfield Stadium
“So we’ve decided to invest some considerable money form our Scottish Rugby funds to create this very special venue on our back pitches.
“We are fortunate to have space within the BT Murrayfield campus to comfortably accommodate this planned new facility and retain practice pitches for all elements of rugby.
“We see this as adding increased flexibility to the BT Murrayfield site and believe we have submitted a robust, sensible application and hope it will be viewed favourably.”
The proposal is for a venue that will incorporate a new 3G surface and covered spectator stands around all four sides of the ground.
Mr Mckay said: “It will cre- ate a home for Edinburgh Rugby but because we plan to put down a 3G synthetic surface it could also be used for local club games, for academy matches and it might be able to be used for smaller football matches.
“The capacity of 7,800 will enable us to appeal to a different audience from a rugby point of view, but perhaps also from a football point of view.
“Our ambition is to make sure anything we invest in we utilise as best we possibly can.”
He said Scottish Rugby had shown it was open to other sports with Hearts playing four matches at Murrayfield while Tynecastle was being upgraded. Hibs, Celtic and Dundee United had also played there.