Populous Will Design Casement Park Stadium

The designers of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium will now develop a design brief for the redevelopment of Casement Park into a 40,000 stadium.

The work on the west Belfast GAA stadium is expected to last for 21 months and be completed by 2015.

A formal application for planning permission will be submitted by the end of March 2013.

The GAA will provide around £15m of the funding and the exchequer £61.4m.

Minister Chairman of the Stadium Project Board, Tom Daly, said the announcement marked “the culmination of an intensive period of work over the past twelve months”.

“The challenge is to now work in partnership with the community, all strands of the GAA and the statutory stakeholders to ensure that the vision for this magnificent new stadium for the GAA in Ulster can be achieved on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.”

Sports minister Caral Ni Chuilin said the appointment was “a significant step”.

“These are exciting times for the GAA as they embark on one of the largest and most significant projects since the redevelopment of Croke Park. I look forward to seeing the designs and working with them to achieve a first class provincial stadium in the heart of Belfast.”

Mike Trice, Principal at Populous, lead architect of the project commented: “We are delighted to have been appointed to design the new 40,000 seat stadium at Casement Park. This project signals the start of a significant chapter in the already long history of Gaelic sport on this site.

At Populous, we design to innovate and enhance the experience of athletes and spectators alike. Our brief is to work with the community to develop a modern exemplary all seated stadium to replace and improve the existing basic facility. We are very happy to be working with our local architectural partners, Consarc Design Group in conjunction with engineers Mott MacDonald.”