Luton Borough Councils development management committee granted detailed planning consent for the arena five years after a smaller scheme by AndArchitects received outline consent.The scheme, dubbed Power Court, will see a stadium and associated fan and media facilities, conference rooms and food and drink space built on an 8ha site opposite St Marys Church in the centre of the Bedfordshire town. Outline consent was also granted for a music venue and hotel and associated works under the same application.Battersea-based AndArchitects secured approval in 2019 for a 23,000-seat stadium, which would have started smaller and been delivered in phases.AdvertisementSince then, however, the club has risen from League One to the Premier League before dropping back to the Championship this year with a far healthier bank balance than when the original scheme was drawn up.Build costs have also changed considerably in the wake of the Covid pandemic, while the retail element of an associated scheme at Newlands Park in the town had to be rethought in the light of changing shopping habits.Aecom was brought in alongside Hertfordshire-based arena specialist SISA to revamp the plans, which now feature a 25,000-capacity stadium to be delivered in one chunk. The practice is working alongside London and Prague-based architects Klaska and sports consultants Trivandi.Their brief, as well as considering the shifting economics of the club and its operating environment, included ensuring Power Court embodied the atmosphere, intimacy and intensity of Luton Towns current 119-year-old home at Kenilworth Road.Luton Town Football Club chief executive Gary Sweet said when plans were submitted in September: Once our lives changed 16 months ago with promotion at Wembley, concurrent to the gargantuan task of getting Kenilworth Road Premier League ready which naturally dominated our workload for most of last year we decided to reassemble a design team to take a fresh look at the whole Power Court project from foundations upwards.AdvertisementWe reassembled a design team to take a fresh look at the whole projectWe 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.Sweet said the team working on the approved proposals had pushed the boundaries beyond the norm in order to remain loyal to our original desired look and feel, and have incorporated more unique cultural characteristics that will make this a familiar home for us all.Aecom director Jon Leach said in September that submission of plans was a significant milestone for Luton Town, which was playing in the fifth tier of English football just a decade ago.The club has enjoyed historic success in recent seasons, and the new Power Court Stadium will reflect its ambitions both on the pitch and in being a key catalyst for the sustainable regeneration of the town and community, he added.Luton Towns plans for Power Court were subject to a long planning saga, including objections to development on the Newlands Park light industrial site by Historic England, Milton Keynes Council and shopping centre management company Capital & Regional.But they received a major boost in 2019 when James Brokenshire, communities secretary at the time, declined to call in the consented plans.AndArchitects managing director Manuel Nogueira told the AJ that year that Lutons plans could create a blueprint for clubs taking stadiums back into town centres after decades of selling off sites at the heart of communities for their housing values and moving to remote locations.This is the way forward for football clubs, he said. Creating mixed-use facilities so the stadium can be used by different groups, and restaurants can stay open all week and create vibrant town centres. Having the football club as the developer is the key thing because it has a long-term interest in the town centre.Luton Town sit 19th in the Championship after a rocky start to the season, leaving them flirting with a return to League One before construction begins.AndArchitecure's early Luton Town FC plans from 2016Project dataStructural engineering AKT IIMechanical & electrical engineering and sustainability consultants Max FordhamPlanning consultants WSPCost consultancy & project management Atkins RealisHighways & transport consultants KMCCrowd and pedestrian analysis Buro HappoldSite civils engineering Civic EngineersFire consultants OFRHeritage & archaeology consultants Cotswold ArchaeologyEcology and biodiversity consultants JW ConsultantsLandscaping consultants AecomPlanning legal advisers Pinsent MasonsContractor and commercial legal advisers CMS