Lord's redevelopment approved by MCC members

One of the more acrimonious chapters in MCC history would appear to have been resolved after the club’s members voted to proceed with redevelopment plans recommended by the committee by an overwhelming margin.

The result – a 90.5% majority with 7,163 votes in favour and 748 votes against – was confirmed by the Electoral Reform Society at the conclusion of a Special General Meeting, held on Wednesday evening at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

It means, MCC will now adopt its Updated Masterplan, a £194m programme of works that will be completed in 2032. The entire development will be funded from the club’s own resources and the decision closes the door on the long-running debate of possible residential development at Lord’s.

An alternative development option, the Rifkind Associates’ Morley Plan, had offered to bring in substantial capital for the club but would have necessitated the building of two blocks of flats in the area currently occupied by the Nursey Pavilion.

The MCC Committee recommended members back their own plans in late July following a lengthy review and consultation process, during which time the opposition to the idea of any residential development within the ground became apparent. Former Prime Minister John Major resigned from the MCC committee at the end of 2011 at protest in the way with which the redevelopment options had been treated.

Detailed design work will begin immediately on a replacement for the Compton and Edrich Stands, with the project set to become the largest single development ever seen at the 203-year-old ground. It is intended that, at the May 2019 AGM, MCC members will be asked to approve the building of the new stands. The work, subject to planning permission being granted by Westminster City Council by the end of 2018, will be carried out from 2019-2021.

The new structures, which will sit underneath and to either side of the media centre, will improve facilities for spectators and increase the capacity of Lord’s by 2000. The first part of the MCC Masterplan was completed earlier this year with the opening of the new £25m Warner Stand.

“This is a landmark day for MCC and for the future of Lord’s,” Gerald Corbett, the MCC chairman, said. “MCC Members have made their feelings abundantly clear – they do not want blocks of flats to be built at their ground – and they have backed the committee’s recommendation to pursue the Updated Masterplan.

“Tonight’s result is emphatic and comes after much detailed work has been completed by the executive, the club’s committees and numerous independent advisors. The alternative to the Masterplan would have been a bad deal for the club commercially and a bad deal for the architectural atmosphere and ambience of Lord’s.”

The vote also neatly rounds off Derek Brewer‘s spell as the MCC’s chief executive. Brewer retires at the end of this month – the fact that he is only 59 bears testament to having spent most of his career in banking – after 13 years in the game, seven at Nottinghamshire (“one too many,” he says now) and the last five at Lord’s. Guy Lavender, previously the CEO at Somerset, is his replacement.

While Brewer admits the redevelopment debate became “acrimonious” at times, he provided the calm head and steady hand to steer the MCC through some choppy waters. By instigating the largest consultation in the club’s history, he found a way – albeit a lengthy, expensive way – to bring the matter to a conclusion. In less certain hands, the situation could have festered and become much uglier.

For a man who first came to Lord’s as a seven-year-old and marvelled at the mastery of Graeme Pollock – 52 years later he stood next to Pollock as he rang the five-minute bell ahead of play in the first Test between England and South Africa – it is a decent way to sign off.

“Derek Brewer deserves much credit and has done an excellent job as our chief executive and secretary over the last five years,” Corbett said. “He retires at the end of this month and has ensured that he hands over the reins to Guy Lavender with a clear direction on the future development of Lord’s. This is an unequivocal outcome that closes the door on the residential debate. The club will now move on and implement the MCC Updated Masterplan.”