Dundee FC stadium complex set for planning in principle submission

Dark Blue Property Holdings, the company set up by club owners Tim Keyes and John Nelms, is expected to file for planning permission in principle today.Set to replace the club’s current home of Dens Park, which dates back to 1899, the proposed 12,500-capacity stadium will be designed to amplify the matchday atmosphere, featuring a home-end safe-standing tribune, activated concourse areas, and LED screens. The scheme will also feature a 1000-capacity multi-use venue, tiered hospitality experiences, and a 250-capacity brew hall.The stadium will be the centrepiece of a mixed-use destination featuring a 120-room hotel with health and wellbeing facilities, a Dundee FC training centre, residential development, and city crematorium. These will be crafted within new landscaped public realm served by a dedicated bus terminal, cycle hub, and EV charging facilities to create a well-connected new district of Dundee.Stadium experts at Holmes Miller were brought on board to the project late last year to work with LJRH Architects of Dundee to develop a masterplan with the new stadium concept at its heart.After the appointment, a planning permission in principle application was expected in January but the extra work behind the submission has been cited as the reason behind the delay.Explaining the reasoning, John Nelms said: “Everything you would do for a full planning application, we have done all of that for this to make sure it works all the way through (the planning permission process).“We call it planning in principle on steroids!“It is well beyond what you would normally do for a planning in principle, which is bad because it takes so long to do now and is so very costly, but is very good because, once they (planning authorities) say yes, each one of the elements already has all that work done.”SCN will provide a link to the application once it is validated by Dundee City Council.