Luton Town chief executive Gary Sweet says the club is finally clearing the biggest obstacles to building its new stadium at Power Court, with work on site set to accelerate in the coming weeks.
The Hatters CEO used his pre-Plymouth Argyle programme notes at the weekend to share an upbeat progress report on the project, while also underlining the club’s ambition to kick-off the 2028-29 season in the new 25,000-seater home.
The football club first unveiled plans for a 17,500-capacity ground back in 2016, only for legal challenges to hold up the project. They eventually received planning permission in 2019 but then Covid stalled everything. Following their historic promotion to the Premier League in 2023, the Hatters resubmitted plans for a larger 25,000-seater arena, which Luton Council approved in December 2024.
As well as the stadium, the scheme includes proposals for a hotel and music venue. But before a single stand can rise, 2020 Developments – the club’s property arm – has had to tackle the tricky rerouting of the River Lea and the removal of a power sub-station, both now reaching critical stages.
Sweet wrote: “We have some major milestones to tick off in the calendar in the coming weeks. Firstly, the water in the River Lea begins to flow following its rerouting process this coming week, chased up in the following week by the old sub-station finally being decommissioned ready for dismantling. The switch-over of the sub-station has been a long time coming and we’re relieved that UK Power Networks has completed the work, paid for entirely by us.
“As all followers of our stadium development know, we can only start the construction of the stadium once these two milestones have been resolved as obstacles. The pace of progress will now start to gather at the end of the year.
“All this work is incredibly exciting, and it’s fair to say the last couple of months have been unprecedentedly busy on and off the field – in fact, these two go hand in hand as we look to entice our next generation of players with, for the first time, a long-term incentive of playing in our first game at Power Court.”
For Luton supporters, many of whom have waited decades for a modern home to replace Kenilworth Road, the sight of heavy machinery on the Power Court site at last will be a welcome signal that the dream is edging closer to reality.
Chief operating officer Michael Moran also spoke to Luton Town Supporters’ Trust for a separate piece in the Plymouth programme, where he set out the next steps, saying: “Phase two is targeted to start just before Christmas when you’ll see massive rigs in place, to put down the 20-metre piling we’re building on – and we’ll also be completing some work with moving old sewers and strengthening retaining walls.
“Piling before the end of the year has been one of the key objectives we’ve worked towards as part of our total, fully focused commitment to being ready to play at the start of the 2028/29 season. Underground works will then take around six months or so. Above ground external works will begin in 2026 once the substructure is completed.
“The skeleton of the stadium will be created quickly so it’ll all be visible, but that’s followed by all the mechanical and electrical works which are a huge part of the job – and then there’s completion and testing in 2027/28 to be set for that 2028/29 start.
“In the meantime, fans will see the facade and the shape becoming reality. All of this, of course, will be subject to any possible impact from global events outside of our control – but we’d like to think that after our experience to date, we’re ready to react to anything to keep things on track!”
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