Luton Town and their home of Kenilworth Road have been the source of much interest since the club were promoted to the Premier League in 2023. Given the limitations of their current stadium, it is unsurprising that the club have been looking for a new home for some time.
How close are they to leaving Kenilworth Road and what plans do they have in store?
Power Court Stadium latest
In December 2024, Luton Town FC received approval for the Power Court Stadium, which is set to seat 25,000 fans and replace Kenilworth Road. Developments Limited received approval for a mixed-use project that includes the stadium, a music venue, and a hotel, creating a vibrant community hub. While planning consent was granted in 2019, the club focused on an updated design that enhances the stadium and surrounding area.
The venue’s central location will enhance Luton Town FC's involvement in the community. Club chief executive Gary Sweet highlighted this point, saying, ‘This will be our new home for generations.‘ The project celebrates opportunities for economic development, community pride, and social unity.
It represents a major milestone for both the club and the town, ensuring a promising future. The club’s next step is to begin construction, with completion anticipated in 2027.
Will Luton Town still leave Kenilworth Road if they are relegated?
There is a risk that Luton Town could suffer another relegation to League One, which will see them back playing in the third tier of English football. While attendances at Kenilworth Road have still been good since they returned to the Championship, it remains to be seen whether that would remain the case if the club are back in League One.
Dropping from the Premier League to League One in two years would be quite a spectacular fall from grace for Luton and could make the hierarchy at the club have a rethink about the new stadium at Power Court, particularly as construction is yet to begin.
There should also be concerns about the path Luton are currently going down. After all, they once went from the Premier League to non-league in a matter of years and if the same happened again, then a new stadium with a much higher capacity would certainly be out of place.
Having said that, the club are almost certainly looking positively at their situation. They will still believe they can beat the drop in the Championship and then push on towards promotion back to the Premier League in the coming years.
Why do Luton Town need a new stadium?
The Hatters have called Kenilworth Road their home since 1905, but local limitations have posed significant challenges for redevelopment. As a result, the club has opted to relocate.
Even prior to their Premier League promotion, Luton Town recognised that Kenilworth Road would not meet the PL's requirements for team stadiums. Adjustments were essential for them to compete at the highest level, reflecting the team's longstanding aspirations.
While potential solutions were identified, the enduring development restrictions indicate that Luton needs a new stadium to facilitate its growth as a club.
What are the plans for Luton's new stadium?
In 2019, Luton Borough Council granted planning permission for a 25,000-seat stadium at Power Court. The location is popular with supporters as it remains within Luton and is around one mile away from Kenilworth Road (not far from the railway station). The new stadium has an interesting design as shown below (courtesy of the Luton Town website, where more information and images can be found).
The scheme has also received a major financial boost with the decision by Luton Borough Council to approve plans for a Hotel and Retail Park to be built near Junction 10 of the M1. Called Newlands Park, the development will help pay for the new Luton Town Stadium.
Groundwork begins
After the plans were submitted to the local council in September 2024, Luton wasted no time in getting construction work started. Groundwork has began and the construction team have already installed the frames of a goal in the middle of the site, which has been well received by local fans.
Excitement is now building among the club's supporters, and to capitalise on that excitement, Luton has publicly released concept art of what the stadium will look like once completed.
As part of the release, the club's Chief Executive, Gary Sweet said:
“Once our lives changed 16 months ago with promotion at Wembley, concurrent to the gargantuan task of getting Kenilworth Road Premier League ready we decided to reassemble a design team to take a fresh look at the whole Power Court project from foundations upwards.
“All in light of the new ambition we wanted to embrace for our Club going forward, demonstrated by the proposal to build to a 25,000 stadium capacity in one phase.
“We hand-picked and structured an elite design team of architects, engineers and technicians who have been working with us, crafting every floor and corner of our new stadium to a detailed stage such that it can now be submitted, publicly aired and presented as a well-prepared detailed design instruction for contractors.”
Luton reveal bigger and bolder plans
In May 2024, Sweet said that the plans for the new stadium were now ‘bigger, better and bolder' due to the club's season in the Premier League in 2023/24. The financial rewards for playing in the English top-flight have given the club more money to spend on the stadium, which could allow things to accelerate in the near future.
Sweet said: “The extra income from Premier League promotion has enabled us to go bigger, better, bolder. Originally it was to be built in three phases, starting at 17,500 capacity, but now we’re going straight to our maximum allowable capacity.
“And because we’ll save time, material, money and upheaval avoiding that, we’ve really been able to enhance the design too, with some of those extra touches which make a real difference.”
When will Luton move to their new ground?
The club have announced that the construction time for the stadium will be around 24 to 30 months, but work is yet to start due to various barriers relating to finances and planning permission. In February 2024, Sweet confirmed that the plans were still active and that he hoped that work could begin by the end of the year.
In May, Sweet provided an update on the timeframes that that club are currently working towards. He said:
“There are so many complexities with a project like this, in a location like this and at a time like this including some outside of our control. But if we’re looking at concrete facts, groundworks have already started, and in sync with UKPN’s targeted schedule on the sub-station, piling is currently scheduled to start in the first half of 2025.
“That’s the foundations being laid. After that, you’re looking at approximately a two-year build time. Construction of the stadium can begin before the sub-station move is finished and we won’t need to wait for the residential development to start either.
“So that gives you some idea – targeting an opening for the 2027/28 season but must allow for test events and training and as it would be a nightmare to move mid-season we may be pushed to 2028/29.”
The club hopes that the design of the Power Court Stadium will be able to “capture the core characteristics” of the team's current home, Kenilworth Road. It will be able to support the same atmosphere that the team experienced in their bid for promotion this year.
FGG says: A new dawn for Luton
Luton's stadium was a bit of a running joke throughout their Premier League campaign. While the club's back-to-back promotions had a huge part to play in how behind their stadium was, it's fair to say Luton Town were punching above their weight. Despite dropping down to the Championship, the club is investing the Premier League parachute payments well by investing in a new stadium.