Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium at White Hart Lane will not open until late October at the earliest and the specific reasons for its delay are starting to trickle out.
Spurs blamed the delay on “issues with the critical safety systems” after testing.
Speaking to trade magazine Building, Mark Reynolds, the chief executive of Mace, the firm who are building the stadium, had the following details.
“Issues with critical safety systems were identified,” Reynolds said. “This is linked to the fire detection contractor encountering higher than usual electrical wiring faults. Many of the outstanding external elements of the build are cosmetic and are not required for the stadium to open for the first football game. Follow up meetings continue to take place with trade contractors where the situation and planned timetable are being reviewed to rectify and re-test. We shall then be in a better position to outline the revised timetable for opening.
“[A cable net roof] requires all of the structure to be completed in order to begin. The roof was always scheduled as one of the last activities and is now due to be substantially complete at the end of August.”
So, the roof will be finished in the next week or so and testing will continue to be planned but it does seem that Spurs are some way off hosting their first game at the new stadium, as they’ve currently announce games through the end of October will be move to Wembley, and elsewhere, with some issues surrounding NFL games at Wembley and its unavailability for the game against Manchester City on Oct. 28 in particular.
Inner circles have been whispering for some time that Tottenham’s new stadium wouldn’t be ready for September 2018 and some bookmakers have even suspended betting with money being placed on Spurs not playing at all in their new stadium during the 2018-19 campaign.
There will no doubt be more news in the coming weeks as tests take place and contractors work around the clock to try and get Tottenham in their new home before the busy festive period.
Until then, maybe they can switch their nickname to the “nomads” instead of Spurs?
