St James' Park

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, El Prontonise said:

 

PIF are only going to invest in investments that will you know make money.

True, and money is something that the NE doesn’t have - so it was to happen, it would be a long-term investment combined with the soft power political capital it would gain from the UK govt, one of the biggest supplier of arms to one of the world’s foremost dicatatorships - as if we’d need buttering up to flog weapons …

[TRon]

14 minutes ago, El Prontonise said:

 

PIF are only going to invest in investments that will you know make money.

 

I think the purchase of NUFC was also about putting Saudi Arabia on the map. Or sportswashing if you like. For that a super successful club is much better I reckon. If that becomes pretty much impossible then, yes it will just become another investment. Then there is less incentive to pour in a load of money into the region since they don't get much back investment wise. 

[Ben]

If the World cup is in Saudi in 2034 maybe they can hold a game in the new St James super stadium 

[tgarve]

37 minutes ago, El Prontonise said:

 

PIF are only going to invest in investments that will you know make money.

I mean, have you look at what they’ve invested in elsewhere? 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 minutes ago, Ben said:

If the World cup is in Saudi in 2034 maybe they can hold a game in the new St James super stadium 

The KSA govt is so full of shite that it’ll claim that the stadium will be able to host a match and then be ready propelled on rockets for the next match it holds in Saudi Arabia 

[David Edgar]

LIV golf is raking in the cash.

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, tgarve said:

I mean, have you look at what they’ve invested in elsewhere? 

Tbf the billions they handed to Musk to help destroy US democracy - sorry, buy Twitter - is unlikely to reap financial rewards any time soon

[Ben]

21 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The KSA govt is so full of shite that it’ll claim that the stadium will be able to host a match and then be ready propelled on rockets for the next match it holds in Saudi Arabia 

 

The 2030 world cup is held in 6 different countries so I don't think it will matter where the stadium lands

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, Ben said:

 

The 2030 world cup is held in 6 different countries so I don't think it will matter where the stadium lands

Hey, why not - anything is possible in the minds of the KSA govt.  NEOM might ignore millennia of evolution of city planning and building, but KSA has banned the teaching of evolution, so why worry about it …

[Stifler]

3 hours ago, bobbydazzla said:

Strong rumours that the council have insisted on NUFC installing a minimum of 3 x Sven Adult Books store on every concourse.

Going to be government bouncers on the doors to make sure you have the right ID.

[Toonjam88]

8 minutes ago, Robster said:

"Others on the agent circuit"

 

 

 

Do they do gigs like? 

[Toonjam88]

No idea why that posted here when I was on the Isak thread 😂😂

[Groundhog63]

6 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Hey, why not - anything is possible in the minds of the KSA govt.  NEOM might ignore millennia of evolution of city planning and building, but KSA has banned the teaching of evolution, so why worry about it …

 

Nah, that's America 😏

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Groundhog63 said:

 

Nah, that's America 😏

Them too 😁

[Stifler]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

You can't adequately plan for anything without having a site - the construction method and costs are entirely determined by the site itself - everything from foundations and structural requirements to working space restrictions to site access have massive contributing factors to the ability to build and the accuracy of the cost.  Designing without site investigations and geotech is a complete waste of time.  No civil engineer worth their salt would propose designing without actually knowing what the site conditions were (though I've seen this done, and been entertained by the look on a PM's face when detailed design commences and the cost increases are obvious due to the total lack of work further up the project life cycle).

For what it’s worth, either earlier this year, or late last year (possibly around this time as shirt releases were happening) I parked at SJP carpark, and there were people doing some sort of tests over the fence in Leazes Park. Their vans were even parked in SJP carpark.

The location would have lined up exactly with the rumoured location Edwards said where the southern end of the stadium would overlap the Leazes end.

From what I recall, it was only just afterwards that he came out with that site location in the paper.

[Rosenrot]

I am a construction solicitor and clients regularly do plans, feasibility studies, site investigations, and hold informal talks with planning teams before the public planning process.

[TheBrownBottle]

6 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

I am a construction solicitor and clients regularly do plans, feasibility studies, site investigations, and hold informal talks with planning teams before the public planning process.

Agreed, they do - what they don’t do is price up fit-outs on projects years away from completion.  The fit out costs would be a % in an elemental cost plan. 
 

edit: NB civil engineering is not the same as construction - site investigations are treated entirely differently, are far more expensive and far more detailed.  By way of an example, civil engineering costings treat site investigations as a direct cost i.e. a trade, rather than a prelim in regular construction.  

 

 

Edited August 11, 2025 by TheBrownBottle

[TheBrownBottle]

8 minutes ago, Stifler said:

For what it’s worth, either earlier this year, or late last year (possibly around this time as shirt releases were happening) I parked at SJP carpark, and there were people doing some sort of tests over the fence in Leazes Park. Their vans were even parked in SJP carpark.

The location would have lined up exactly with the rumoured location Edwards said where the southern end of the stadium would overlap the Leazes end.

From what I recall, it was only just afterwards that he came out with that site location in the paper.

You could be right - testing would normally be done on soils so that you can determine disposal and / or reuse.  Determining piling depths requires heavy duty equipment. 

[Stifler]

3 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

You could be right - testing would normally be done on soils so that you can determine disposal and / or reuse.  Determining piling depths requires heavy duty equipment. 

Yeah, it looked like light piling machines. I’m not an engineer, seen some similar stuff on TV where they are taking core samples and are doing soil tests. So I’m guessing that they were looking at the ground structure conditions.

[Rosenrot]

8 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Agreed, they do - what they don’t do is price up fit-outs on projects years away from completion.  The fit out costs would be a % in an elemental cost plan. 
 

edit: NB civil engineering is not the same as construction - site investigations are treated entirely differently, are far more expensive and far more detailed.  By way of an example, civil engineering costings treat site investigations as a direct cost i.e. a trade, rather than a prelim in regular construction.  

 

 

 

Agree with all this. Didn’t realise we were talking about any sort of detailed fit out. They will however, in my experience, be developing a budget and the associated business case. That will all be before planning.

[Shadow Puppets]

13 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Agreed, they do - what they don’t do is price up fit-outs on projects years away from completion.  The fit out costs would be a % in an elemental cost plan. 
 

edit: NB civil engineering is not the same as construction - site investigations are treated entirely differently, are far more expensive and far more detailed.  By way of an example, civil engineering costings treat site investigations as a direct cost i.e. a trade, rather than a prelim in regular construction.  

 

 

 

 

You're probably right. To be honest, I haven't thought to ask exactly what is being priced up... other than knowing the companies in question do fit outs and that they have been asked for pricing on elements of the stadium and training ground. I don't know to what degree that goes to... obviously prices are massively subject to change... but all I'm saying is that several companies have definitely been approached to help with the costings.

[nufcjb]

I saw an Everton video today that showed it took them 4 years from breaking ground to have the stadiim they have today. Don't kmow whether that is considered fast or slow but pretty impressive in my eyes that at least they did it.

 

We had a full summer of no football and negativity in the transfer market.and we gave fuck all update on anything SJP or stadium related news. Absolute amateurs PR people we have.

[Ben]

34 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Hey, why not - anything is possible in the minds of the KSA govt.  NEOM might ignore millennia of evolution of city planning and building, but KSA has banned the teaching of evolution, so why worry about it …

 

If only the head of FIFA was a corrupt money grabber ...... 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

Agree with all this. Didn’t realise we were talking about any sort of detailed fit out. They will however, in my experience, be developing a budget and the associated business case. That will all be before planning.

Absolutely - which given the nature of the project, will be parametric level estimating to support a budget with whacking great big contingencies attached to it.  I’m assuming that getting business case approval through PIF will be similar to investment-level business cases elsewhere - and you’ll be dealing with 0-2% design maturity.  It’s a thumb suck at that point - you wouldn’t be going to contractors etc at that time. 

[JT24]

2 minutes ago, nufcjb said:

I saw an Everton video today that showed it took them 4 years from breaking ground to have the stadiim they have today. Don't kmow whether that is considered fast or slow but pretty impressive in my eyes that at least they did it.

 

We had a full summer of no football and negativity in the transfer market.and we gave fuck all update on anything SJP or stadium related news. Absolute amateurs PR people we have.

Not much will be happening on this without a CEO present. Who knows how long Eales has been on medical leave but I have my suspicions it goes back to June. 
 

You’ll likely have the person who is supposed to be leading it (Brad Miller) play acting as an interim CEO too. 
 

They’ll be stretched.