New £50m Cardiff stadium opens
by Pete Hayman | 23 Jul 2009
A friendly match between Cardiff City Football Club (CCFC) and Glasgow Celtic Football Club has marked the opening of a new multi-million pound sports stadium at Leckwith, Cardiff.
The 25,000-seat venue was built by Laing O'Rourke and developed by PMG Estates on a site adjacent to the football club's former Ninian Park home, while the Cardiff Blues rugby team will also be relocating to the stadium from its current home at Cardiff Arms Park. Facilities at the stadium include one of the largest restaurants in the Welsh capital, capable of accommodating 750 diners, while planning permission is also in place to increase the venue's capacity to 60,000 if required.
The scheme has included the construction of a new £8.5m athletics venue, which opened in February to replace the former Cardiff Athletics Stadium that was demolished to make way for the new football and rugby stadium. A new 'House of Sport' has also been established, including one of the city's first third-generation sports pitches, facilities for disabled athletes, a sports library, lecture rooms and learning facilities.
Rodney Berman, leader of Cardiff Council, said: "The overall development at Leckwith will bring around £110m pounds' to the area, including about £32m worth of community benefit and an estimated 1,200 jobs. "We have an excellent sporting tradition here in Cardiff and this stadium is a fitting addition to all the other first class venues the city offers."
Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan added: "The venue is more than a football and rugby stadium. It is a conference and sporting venue out of the top drawer as well and needs to be full of business activity as well as sporting to pay its way and fulfil the dream."
A friendly match between Cardiff City Football Club (CCFC) and Glasgow Celtic Football Club has marked the opening of a new multi-million pound sports stadium at Leckwith, Cardiff. The 25,000-seat venue was built by Laing O'Rourke and developed by PMG Estates on a site adjacent to the football club's former Ninian Park home, while the Cardiff Blues rugby team will also be relocating to the stadium from its current home
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