Construction began in August 2021 and was completed in 2025. However, that shouldn’t imply that the project went entirely without a hitch.<\/p>\n
“We were on the bubble for relegation more than once. We had a change of ownership and we had a war with Russia and Ukraine that affected the club,” said Meis.<\/p>\n
The Toffees finished four points above the relegation zone in 2021-22 and just two points clear of the drop zone the following season.<\/p>\n
Everton also cut ties with Russian sponsors in 2022<\/a> following the invasion of Ukraine and the Friedkin Group took over the club in November 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nick Tyrer was lead designer for architecture and engineering firm BDP Pattern on the Hill Dickinson Stadium.<\/p>\n “I work on sports stadia around the world,” he told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n “The joy, but equally the challenge of them, is that they are such landmark projects that are driven by politics, by the industry, by what’s going on in the world.”<\/p>\n He explained the design and build contract had been signed by the time Everton were facing potential relegation.<\/p>\n “On social media though, there was a lot of talk about how it would be the best stadium in the Championship,” added Tyrer.<\/p>\n “That’s a professional concern – you spend six or seven years of your life working on a stadium and it may open in a lower league.”<\/p>\n That apprehension will sound familiar to fans of relegation-battling Tottenham Hotspur, who face the prospect of their club playing in the Championship next season in a 62,000-seater stadium that only opened in 2019.<\/p>\n Meis also explained some of the technical challenges involved in building on disused industrial docklands.<\/p>\n “Once the builders got down to the floor of the dock they found unexploded ordnance from WWII,” he said. “They found a dolphin at one point and had to shut everything down.”<\/p>\n The designer now has a tattoo that reads 1878 – the year Everton was founded. <\/p>\n