This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ENGLISH football fans will finally see the FA Cup final return home to 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium after a six year absence.
Multiplex is expected to formally handed over the keys to the stadium to Wembley National Stadium Limited officials early next week – albeit 14 months and $2.4 billion later.
Multiplex was supposed to complete the project by January last year in time for last season’s 2006 FA Cup final, however, an unfinished roof and industrial disputes with the subcontractor Cleveland Bridge United Kingdom forced the English Football Association to relocate the matches to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
The Wembley Stadium project has set Multiplex back $365 million – the project was originally priced at $1.12 billion.
In October last year, Multiplex and WNSL agreed to enter into a comprehensive settlement after Multiplex launched a £350 million ($A850 million) lawsuit action against WNSL in September.
The agreement was chaired by Lord Carter between the FA, WNSL and Multiplex and avoided further bad publicity Multiplex endured during its successful test case against steel subcontractor CBUK.
Multiplex was awarded damages and remedies against CBUK totalling £32.66 million ($A81 million) in June last year.
According to British reports, the agreement included FA paying Multiplex $173 million on top of the originally agreed $1.12 billion redevelopment price and Multiplex would pay the FA $87 million back as late penalty compensation.
And last month, British reports said an impending legal dispute between Multiplex and another subcontractor, Honeywell, could further delay the staging of test events at Wembley. However, Multiplex shot down any rumours adding that “Multiplex can see no reason why the FA Cup final should not be held at Wembley in 2007,”
With all that history behind the parties, the FA can now stage two key test events required for the stadium to be granted a safety certificate.
The first event will be held later this month on March 17.
The second is an England Under-21 game against Italy on March 24, which will be the first football match at Wembley since Germany beat England 1-0 in October 2000.
If both test events are a success, the 2007 FA Cup final will likely be held at Wembley Stadium on May 19.
Australian Property Journal
