Al Baxter has performed a unique pivot in his career, going from representing Australia in the great stadiums of the world to designing them — and next on his company’s list of projects is redeveloping Twickenham.
Baxter’s colleagues often take the mickey out of him, as in their offices they have the image of Jonny Wilkinson dropping the goal in the 2003 World Cup final, with Baxter forlornly looking over his shoulder as the ball heads through the posts. When he enters the office they often do his “look” back to him, to keep him humble.
From plotting England’s downfall in Tests to now helping with the wider effort to redo their historic stadium, Baxter revels in his new role. The 48-year-old former tight-head played 69 Tests for his country between 2003 and 2009, before retiring in 2011 to qualify as an architect.
“I finished my degree while I was playing rugby,” he says, walking around the latest ground he has worked on with his company Populous, the brand-new Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong. “Then I thought, ‘I’ve had my 12 seasons of rugby, playing in a fair whack of grounds, I want to start designing them.’”
Baxter’s first project was rebuilding the Parramatta Eels rugby league ground in Western Sydney, which became the 30,000-seat CommBank Stadium in 2019. With a strict budget Baxter and his team created a tight, steep ground where the noise is funnelled to hit the players as they run out, as it does at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, another Populous project.
The company has since used that principle globally, from the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with its single-tiered south stand, to here in Hong Kong.
“In the Principality you can feel the noise in your chest. We wanted to create the same here,” Baxter explains. “Hearing the crowd boosts your adrenaline. I’ve played at the MCG in front of 90,000, but because you’re so far from the edges, you don’t get the same atmosphere as a tight 30,000 stadium.”
Perched like a glimmering pebble on Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong, the Kai Tak Stadium shows a glimpse of Baxter’s handiwork — and what Twickenham could turn into.
The 50,000-seat venue hosted the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sevens last weekend — complete with gigs from Gala, Pete Tong and Kaiser Chiefs. It is the latest project by Populous, which has been building sports stadiums for 41 years, from the Principality to Yankee Stadium in New York, via Wembley and Olympic stadiums in London and Sydney.
The £663million the RFU expects to spend with Populous to spruce up Twickenham in 2026-27 should be well spent. Baxter’s colleague Richard Breslin, director of the global board, worked on the Wembley rebuild in the 2000s, which brought valuable lessons.
The RFU does not want to rebuild the stadium entirely, although it did look at moving it to Milton Keynes or Birmingham. The FA faced a similar dilemma in the late 1990s, but eventually the old twin towers made way for the new arch and the fresh 90,000-seat ground was completed in 2007.
“We’ve done refurb jobs before when you get to a certain point and think, ‘Maybe we should’ve started from scratch,’” Breslin says.
“It’s about understanding what is the asset that you’re trying to keep and why. We tried very hard to try and keep the old Wembley, but there was just no way to do it in the end.
“We acoustically mapped it to make sure that we could recreate the Wembley roar, and mimicked the steps from the field to the royal box to lift a cup. You try to grab those little moments.
“You can’t do the whole thing, otherwise there isn’t any point in building a brand-new venue.”
So what should the RFU expect for Twickenham’s redevelopment, looking at the Kai Tak project? Large concourses, bars and balconies, a venue kitted out for music events as well as sport, and creative thinking around transport links.
The new stadium is covered in 27,000 iridescent panels, and sponsors such as Cathay Pacific can display messages using the LED lights on the outside of the ground. The RFU, and its multiple brand partners, would be delighted if Twickenham could do that.
Kai Tak’s retractable roof is one of the heaviest in the world, at 4,800 tonnes, thanks to sound-proofing panels. Inside is the longest bar in Asia, and they have recreated the 5,000-seat south stand from the old ground in Causeway Bay, the notorious spot where revellers sink beer by the litre during the sevens. Behind it sits a stage for music acts.
Instead of corporate boxes, hospitality guests mingle on balconies, to replicate watching the game on a big screen in a pub — another element Twickenham will look to copy.
The whole redevelopment project, to install shops, parks and accommodation, a hotel and an extra 5,000-capacity track and field ground next door, cost £3 billion. About 150 architects worked on it in nine global offices across six time zones over seven years.
About 110,000 fans came to its first significant event, the sevens, over three days, and in July Tottenham and Arsenal will play a London derby here, while Liverpool will face AC Milan.
Kai Tak also wants to be a neutral Test rugby venue. Plans are afoot for the stadium to host Bledisloe Cup matches between New Zealand and Australia, and the 2030 Nations Cup finals.
That tournament, which will pit southern and northern hemisphere sides against each other in a league format with a final in November, will begin next year. Hong Kong could be an ideal stop-off for the British & Irish Lions, when on tours to New Zealand or Australia.
Soon they will build a new ferry terminal here, so fans can catch a boat to the ground. In the RFU’s plans for Twickenham it has suggested that river boats could ferry supporters to the ground to ease traffic to the train station.
Twickenham’s transport links are crying out for improvement. Populous helped with the revamp of Wembley Park underground station and in Hong Kong they have built a new road tunnel and two fresh MTR metro stops to improve fans’ journeys.
So the RFU will have much to do if Twickenham is to keep up with the Joneses, but the Kai Tak Stadium demonstrates what is possible.
• Will Kelleher flew to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific. They fly from Hong Kong from London Heathrow up to five times a day, and from Manchester Airport up to seven times a week. cathaypacific.com
