A Wembley-style arch? Driverless pods? The UK’s biggest train station? Brainstorm meetings are ramping up for the RFU’s renovation of Twickenham and the initial 60-page masterplan is bursting with eye-popping suggestions.
A 10-month shutdown from the end of the 2027 Six Nations has been provisionally marked into the diary as they prepare to transform the brutalist home of rugby in this country into a multi-purpose arena.
There are plenty of planning and financial hurdles to overcome before work gets underway at what is officially now known as the Allianz Stadium, after the RFU struck a sponsorship deal worth over £100million with the German financial services firm.
Stage two plans will be presented to the board next year, by which point the RFU will have a new Head of Venue after Mark Lynch was poached by Wembley.
In the meantime, Mail Sport consulted Dan Meis – the designer of Everton’s new stadium, the Staples Center where the LA Lakers play and the stadium Roma will move into in 2027 — to explore the possibilities of the project which will cost hundreds of millions.
The RFU are planning to upgrade Twickenham with a number of staggering improvements being discussed
A 10-month shutdown from the end of the 2027 Six Nations has been provisionally marked for the transformation
The initial 60-page masterplan is bursting with eye-popping suggestions for the remodelling of English rugby’s home
‘Stadium renovation is big business these days,’ says Meis. ‘I’m glad we’re seeing more of it because it’s not uncommon for a team to say, “Let’s move to a new stadium”. It’s horribly unsustainable when you design these buildings that only last for 25 years.
‘We did a walk-through of Twickenham a few years ago. When you have a building with that many years on it, I often say it’s like when you haven’t been to the dentist for years and there’s a little bit of plaque built up.
‘A stadium like Twickenham has a lot of history that cannot be replicated. You really want to highlight those historic parts.
‘There’s no typical approach with such a massive building; it’s not cheap and it requires a lot of creativity.’
Here are some of the possibilities on the table…
Mail Sport consulted Dan Meis, the designer of Everton’s new stadium, to explore the possibilities of the project
An Allianz facelift
Allianz will be keen to get going on their £100m investment. The deal was managed by Creative Artists Agency and they have a brief to raise the bar in sustainability and contemporary design.
Installing blue seats is one mode of brand activation, in keeping with company colours, although it is hardly iconic. The stadium is directly beneath the flightpath into Heathrow airport and the roof has already been used for advertising purposes.
A branded arch was mooted by Allianz staff but such a project would not be feasible.
Allianz signage has already been installed around the stadium but Meis believes there is potential for the facades to be transformed with a huge wrap-around LED board. ‘I’m working on several stadium renovations right now, some that are not unlike Twickenham, where you have a lot of disparate components that have grown up over time,’ says Meis.
‘There’s a quirkiness of different looking stands that grow up over generations. You’ve had different architects, different owners and the challenge is how you bring it forward and bring any consistency to the experience.
‘One of the things we’re looking at is adding LED skins. It doesn’t have to be as aggressive as the lighting technology you see in Las Vegas (home to the £1.8billion Sphere, a 366ft high venue covered in video boards which dominates Sin City’s skyline).
‘I’ve looked at adding a metal scrim, a lightweight structure that gathers up all the disparate architecture and gives it a more cohesive look.
‘You have the programmability to make it change colour or run video. All of a sudden, you can create a different impression of the stadium and really activate the full facade of the building.
‘It’s not overly expensive. There are places where it actually pays for itself — you could run Allianz across it, so it’s interesting to sponsors. At the SoFi Stadium in LA, they have a similar product on the roof and it’s very effective for the planes flying over. It allows the stadium to tune itself to the various events it is staging.’
Allianz will be keen to get going on their £100million investment in the iconic stadium
Allianz signage has already been installed around the stadium but there could be potential for a wrap-around LED board
Cutting capacity
One of the biggest bugbears for fans at Twickenham is the tight seating and regular interruptions of standing up to let punters get to the bar or the toilet.
The stadium masterplan features detailed technical drawings to improve seat width and leg room. That would involve shifting the front seats closer to the pitch and could result in a drop in capacity from 82,000 to 80,000.
In this instance, Meis believes less is more. ‘A lot of these older buildings have narrow aisles and very restricted concourses.
‘If you can reduce capacity then you free up space for staircases and escalators. When we did the walk-through, the depth of the seating treads were very tight and the only way you can change that is by reducing capacity. That helps comfort and people being able to get out of their seats.
‘I got a lot of pushback with Everton about the capacity of the stadium. I believe that scarcity is a good thing. You don’t want to make the stadium too big. That last 10,000 seats you add are the most expensive to build because they’re at the back, and because they’re at the back they bring the least amount of revenue. Reducing capacity has an impact on revenue for major Test matches.’
One of the biggest bugbears for fans at the ground is tight seating and regular interruptions as fellow supporters head to the bar or toilets
The stadium masterplan features detailed technical drawings to improve seat width and leg room
Britain’s biggest train station
Gridlock and delays outside Twickenham station make getting to and from events a painful experience. The RFU explored the option of relocating to a more accessible location in Birmingham but that would mean sacrificing their cash-cow hospitality market in the capital.
A detailed transport strategy was commissioned that requires lobbying with local councils. There are a series of short and long-term proposals to reduce the reliance on Twickenham station, including a new ‘West London Orbital’ rail interchange.
The interchange would link Hounslow station to the HS2’s new superhub, Old Oak Common, which upon completion is set to be the country’s biggest station.
New footpath routes have been proposed to make the walk from Hounslow station equidistant to Twickenham station, creating an attractive alternative. There have also been suggestions of a river service, futuristic driverless pods to ferry fans to the stadium and a new footbridge over the A316.
There are a series of short and long-term proposals to reduce the reliance on Twickenham station, including a new ‘West London Orbital’ rail interchange
Hospitality offerings
Enhancing users’ experience is key to bringing in more money-spinning non-rugby events. Populous, the architects behind Tottenham’s £1.3bn stadium, have been heavily involved in the masterplan and already have vast experience of London’s hospitality appetites.
The stadium has permission to host only three concerts a year; two of which must be on a Saturday, ruling the venue out of being able to host the record-breaking Taylor Swift tour. Rival London stadia have looser restrictions and changing these will be crucial for the project’s profitability.
Improving catering options and communal areas will be high on the priority list. Outside of the expensive hospitality options currently on offer at Twickenham, the bars are crowded, cold experiences in the concourse.
There are proposals to move the RFU’s offices out of the stadium to increase hospitality space, as well as upgrading the car parking areas. One brief is to increase the provision of women’s toilets, reflecting the growth in popularity of women’s rugby as well as female-heavy audiences at non-rugby events, such as concerts.
There is also scope to provide more advanced technology for fans, such as WiFi linked ref mics and improved screens to help spectators follow the action.
‘The fan experience has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years,’ says Meis. ‘Everybody has a phone in their hands and modern customers are not necessarily comparing Twickenham to the other stadiums they’re going to, they’re comparing their experience to the experience of a great hotel or a great restaurant. People like communal experiences. It’s not just a case of buying your ticket and going to sit in your seat.
The stadium will also look to hold more concerts and improve hospitality and communal areas
The aim is to complete the renovations by 2031, when Twickenham hopes to present its historic home with a new modernised twist
‘The tradition in English football was to go to the neighbourhood pub. That pre-game and post-game experience at the stadium is now something we’re seeing more of in the UK. It’s always been very popular in the US. The fan zone that’s been developed just outside of Newcastle is a great example; basically a box park just adjacent to the stadium. It’s basically like having a pub atmosphere attached to the stadium. It allows the club to drive more revenue. At Everton we were very conscious of it because they only had a very small area at Goodison Park.’
It will not be straightforward. There will be plenty of challenges on the way. But the aim is to complete the renovations by 2031, when Twickenham hopes to present its historic home with a new modernised twist.
