Emirates Old Trafford

The look of Emirates Old Trafford has changed a great deal since the Manchester Cricket Club first laid out the pitch on the de Trafford estate. What remains from the late nineteenth century is the Pavilion. The current structure was the result of a redevelopment finished in 2023. ICA designed the hotel extension that sits alongside the main stand, though they did not oversee the cricket pavilion itself. The surface beneath the players is a Desso hybrid, 96 per cent natural grass and 4 per cent synthetic, which the ground staff maintain. The capacity shifts depending on what is on the programme. For Tests and One-Day Internationals it holds 26,000 spectators, but the number drops to 19,000 for domestic matches. The 2017 One Love benefit concert brought the figure up to 50,000. The record crowd of 120,417 was packed into the terraces for the 1961 Ashes Test between England and Australia. Today the ground hosts concerts by Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters and Green Day, and the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup Semi-Final.