WeBuild have once again tried to sell their San Siro project to AC Milan and Inter, stressing that the works would not cause a big disruption.
It is now well known that both Milan and Inter currently intend to move away from the Giuseppe Meazza, with the red half of the city planning to build in San Donato and the blue half towards Rozzano.
However, the City Council will never likely to let the two clubs walk away without a fight and thus a project was launched with the plan to save San Siro. They enlisted the help of WeBuild, who pitched a €300m project that would bring the nearly 100-year-old structure up to modern standards.
They officially put the project forward to the clubs recently and thus the blueprints are now in the hands of Inter and Milan, who will have to make their assessments before deciding whether to go ahead of proceed with building their own new homes.
In a statement on their official website, WeBuild shed more light on their vision: “The Webuild Group has presented a redevelopment project for the stadium that aims to preserve this icon of sport in line with what has already been done in the great European sports arenas.
“Its history dates back to a distant past, when in 1925 the first four straight stands were built. The stadium project was entrusted to Ulisse Stacchini, who was also working on the design of Milan’s Central Station, and to Alberto Cugini.
“From that moment on, and up until today, the facility has been the subject of a series of interventions to redevelop and expand it. The first dates back to 1935 when the capacity of the structure was increased from 35 thousand to 55 thousand seats to become one of the largest stadiums in the world.
“In 1955, with a new project, the stands were increased considerably to accommodate 100,000 people, then reduced to 85,000 for safety reasons. Since then, San Siro has not been touched again until the 1990 World Cup when a pool of companies led by Lodigiani (which later merged with the Webuild Group) was tasked with modernising the structure by building the third ring and the 11 cylindrical reinforced concrete towers that gave the facility its unmistakable shape.
“Thirty years after that intervention, the Webuild Group has presented a redevelopment project for the stadium that aims to preserve this icon of sport in line with what has already been done in the major European sports arenas.
“Webuild’s project includes interventions on the existing structure in the name of the facility’s modernity and sustainability. According to the proposal presented, on which appropriate discussions are underway with the interested parties, the work could last three years during which the facility would continue to function.
“The principle of the project is the same that inspired the redevelopment interventions of other major European stadiums with the aim of protecting and enhancing them as true historical and cultural heritage not only for football lovers, but for everyone.”