ForeverBlue92
Player Valuation: £80m
Personally I liked Meis, I especially appreciated the way he immersed himself with the fans and subsequently produced a design which won overwhelming approval from the support.
I am certain this wouldn’t have happened with a faceless corporate like Pattern.
If planning is granted and the project moves forward this is usually the point where the architects vision will come under pressure from the construction companies overriding pursuit of maximum profit.
All construction firms are by nature aggressive profiteers and will happily ride roughshod over anyone who opposes their rapacious acquisition of money and land.
They will always attempt to simplify any over complex or ‘custom’ designs in preference for more generic or standardised alternatives because it will generally yield them better financial rewards. They will invariably argue for such changes under the guise of reducing costs for the client or time delays, despite the fact that they originally tendered for the job after seeing the original plans.
Obviously if the original design is to have any chance of completion it will have to be robustly defended and you have to question whether a corporate entity like Pattern who already have a cozy relationship with the builder and little intellectual investment in Meis’ design will fight the case sufficiently.
I suspect not.
Worst case scenario is we end up with a generic flat pack stadium ,( with a few twiddly bits ), after all.
Thats my worry - yet some think its boss getting shot of the bloke who wanted to create a world class stadia.