It's still not approved by authorities, not just yet. But this time the 55,500-capacity stadium might be acceptable even with monument protection in mind. Moved and lowered, it would be unvisible from many parts of Olympiapark.

On Monday evening Hertha presented the plans to their shareholders, now we can present them to you. The largest club in Berlin remain faithful to their initial instinct of staying as close to Olympiastadion as possible. Before that they've analysed some 50 locations across the city and none proved as good as this one.

One major downside of their 2017 plan of building a new stadium just outside Olympiastadion was... the proximity itself. Olympiastadion and all of Olympiapark are listed as monuments and last year's vision was considered far too intrusive.

That's why the amended vision for 2018 pushes the proposed new stadium roughly 100 meters east (and 350m away from Olympiastadion). This way almost 70% of the football arena would be located outside the protected area.

Also, the stadium would be sunken into the ground even more than initially proposed, which would effectively make it barely visible for people entering Olympiapark through the main entrance. Hidden behind the trees, it would benefit from natural land gradient.

In this altered study by Albert Speer + Partner the stadium would have majority of its floor space hidden below ground. Out of south stand's 4 floors only the uppermost one would be on ground level, at least for people entering that very stand through special bridges.

All of the lower tier would be sunken. From the east, however, fans would enter at different height. This is where the supporters 'kurve' would be, holding 10,000 standing fans. In the north and west the lower sections would be built on sloped land, reducing the cost. In total the stadium is expected to cost €200 million.

According to early declaration from Berlin's senator for sports, Andreas Geisel, such layout of the stadium should be acceptable for authorities. However we should remind everyone that we're not looking at a ready concept, rather feasibility study.

Creation of actual documentation and obtaining all approvals would take some 2 years. Further 3 years are expected for construction. Then, on July 25, 2025, the new football stadium of Hertha could open its doors.

Such precision in opening date may be overly optimistic, but making it in time for the 2025/26 season is a priority for Hertha, whose lease of Olympiastadion ends in June of that year.

South (main) stand section

East stand section

North stand section (away fans in the corner)