Rennes paid €1.5 million. A draft of the project was presented to sports bodies at the end of June 2011, and the choice of Villejean Campus was confirmed. An architectural competition was launched in June 2011 by the , and the winning project was presented by the architectural firm Chabanne and Partners on 1 July 2012. Work began in early 2014 with a ceremony of the laying of the first stone on 16 February 2014. It was decided that the stadium would be named after , the former bronze medalist at the 1966 European Athletics Championships in the 400 meters hurdles, and former of French athletics. The stadium is located on the Villejean Campus, northwest of Rennes, in the . It is located close to the metro station on the Rennes metro, and close to the . The building was designed by the architectural from Chabanne and Partners. It has a surface of 5,830m2. According to the firm, the look of the building evokes the hard work of sports in general. "The taut lines of the building symbolize the muscular effort of the athletes. The painting there is also a nod to the discipline of the athletes. It uses the colors gold, silver and bronze to symbolize the colors of the medals that the athletes compete for. The complex is equipped with a 200m track for running and six 60m sprint lanes. For other athletic disciplines, there are areas for shot-put, for the long jump, and for the triple jump. Areas for the high jump and pole vaulting are planned. The stadium's capacity is 1,293 places including 793 seated and 500 standing, with the possibility of adding 1,439 more people using mobile bleachers. One of the stands bears the name of John Huitorel, former director of the normal school at Rennes.