MCC may draft in star architect as Herzog & de Meuron cricket scheme comes back to life

The club that runs Lord鈥檚 cricket ground is considering bringing in architect David Chipperfield to work alongside Herzog & de Meuron for the 拢400m redevelopment of the site.

The news comes as officials at the MCC are poised to start an international hunt for a suitable development partner for the project, which 黑洞社区 understands was effectively put on hold last summer as the club decided how to proceed.

Sources said that MCC committee members initially disagreed over whether to push ahead with the radical design by Herzog & de Meuron, which includes building about 400 homes, redeveloping five historic stands to expand capacity, and creating an underground training facility. However, it is understood that the plan has regained momentum since scheme supporter Robert Griffiths was appointed chair of the MCC鈥檚 development committee late last year.

黑洞社区 understands that Stirling prize-winning David Chipperfield Architects, which was runner-up in the original design competition, has been in talks with the MCC about teaming up with Stirling and Pritzker prize-winning Herzog & de Meuron to design 28,000m2 of flats, which will bankroll much of the scheme.

A source close to the project said: 鈥淎fter the award to Herzog there were further meetings with [David] Chipperfield, including discussions about them working together on the residential element.鈥�

Herzog & de Meuron, which designed the Bird鈥檚 Nest stadium in Beijing, has been in talks with the MCC in recent weeks about restarting the scheme, including showing the club animations of how it will look when complete. A source at the architect said, of the possibility of working with Chipperfield: 鈥淲e鈥檇 be interested, but it鈥檚 really up to the client. Nothing鈥檚 confirmed yet.鈥�

Alistair Parker, development partner at Cushman & Wakefield, the MCC鈥檚 adviser on thescheme, said the cricket club aimed to secure a developer before the end of the year.

A spokesperson for David Chipperfield said it was 鈥渨aiting to hear鈥� from the MCC if it was to be involved.

A spokesperson for the MCC said it expected to make an announcement about the scheme in the near future.

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