After a prolonged legal process, it is now clear – London's highest court has given the green light for the project, which will triple the classic tennis facility's area, according to BBC.
But the investment is not happening without resistance.
The building plans mean that large parts of the adjacent green areas will be affected to make room for 39 new tennis courts, one of them with an arena that can accommodate 8,000 spectators. The work is expected to take several years.
The resistance from the local population has been great. Massive protests have been organized, and most attention has been given to 100-year-old actress Thelma Ruby after her promise to chain herself up if the building plans become a reality:
Then they can arrest me, she has said.
And now it may be so.
Behind the protests is the group Save Wimbledon Park (SWP), which took the case to court in an attempt to stop the building plans. The judge approved the plans, however, which means that the owners – All England Lawn Tennis Club can now begin their billion-kronor construction project.
The total bill for the expansion is expected to land at 200 million pounds, which corresponds to approximately 2.5 billion kronor.
