Main Stand redevelopment thread

[Hrolf The Ganger]

Don't think you need to even buy the 4 to 6 houses affected that face that way. A tier would go on and if you used clear materials in the top of it the light gets through - we are "Crystal Palace" after all.

Let's leave it to the architects

I thought as much myself.

Glass and the right profile could be enough.

Parish has already talked about removing the stanchions, so some sort of roof reconstruction is on the table.

I'd build a new roof with room for another tier for when we get round to it.

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

They have no windows anyway as far as I can tell. Maybe for the bathroom. Never knew our main stand seats were black though

View attachment 2165

If we wanted to do something truly spectacular, we could build right over the top of Sainsbury's.

The houses on the other side would have to go I expect, and I don't know if we have the rights to build over, but they would be details that would need to be sorted.

If the club want to retain boxes at that end, you could only really put a couple of thousands on top if you were only going to use the existing space above them.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

Even with a CPO you'd still have to pay the going rate for the strip which is 1/3rd of the project it enables. £60mil?
So there's no point in a CPO, I'm sure Sainsburys would be happy to accept that money for almost nothing.

That's interesting. My (limited) understanding was that it was the other way around, in that the value of land in any CPO was always on a 'no development scheme' basis. I.e, you discount the value of the project that the land is needed for. In other words, it's worth whatever five or six parking spaces are worth. That's as far as I can tell, anyway. Happy to be corrected though.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

Regarding the hypothetical redevelopment of the Whitehorse, the best bet would certainly be partnering with Sainsbury's and building a mirror (ish) of the holmesdale with a new supermarket under it. If they didn't want to know then I'd pursue a development of the type seen in the tallest stand below, where two small tiers of seating are topped off with a tall wall of glazed boxes. It's a bit unusual, and I'm not a fan of prominent executive facilities, but it would allow additional capacity and income on the existing footprint without needing any land from Sainsbury's, as well as making at least three of the four stands about the same height as each other. Plus it would show Sainsbury's we have other options and maybe bring them to the table.

 

[dorking]

The black plastic seats in the Main Stand were installed in the summer of 1980 or 1981 from memory, they were second hand from Spurs. The seat backs were painted red and blue in the early 90s but they still looked rubbish. They lasted until 2013 when Parish got a complete new set of modern plastic ones for the whole stand (the ones in the back half of the old stand were wooden)

As for the Sainsbury's end, the boxes can go when the Main Stand opens (so in the 2030's then!!) and a small upper tier could potentially go in their place. It will look wierd though because I believe the club want to take out the front 6 rows of seats at that end to lengthen the pitch - leaving what is left looking like a non league stand!

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

The black plastic seats in the Main Stand were installed in the summer of 1980 or 1981 from memory, they were second hand from Spurs. The seat backs were painted red and blue in the early 90s but they still looked rubbish. They lasted until 2013 when Parish got a complete new set of modern plastic ones for the whole stand (the ones in the back half of the old stand were wooden)

As for the Sainsbury's end, the boxes can go when the Main Stand opens (so in the 2030's then!!) and a small upper tier could potentially go in their place. It will look wierd though because I believe the club want to take out the front 6 rows of seats at that end to lengthen the pitch - leaving what is left looking like a non league stand!

It would be totally pathetic. The trouble is that the pitch needs to be extended to square everything up.

I would be amazed if the owners were happy to leave that end with less than 2k capacity.
Another tier the same size as the current space would still make it less than 4k

Would that produce more income than the boxes?

Something far more ambitious is required if we are to look like a proper club.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

I had forgotten all that business about removing the front rows at the Whitehorse. From memory, they are adding corner seats between the main stand and the holmesdale, and between the holmesdale and the Arthur, but not to either side of the Whitehorse, so it really will look like the runt of the litter.

Ultimately, unless Sainsbury's want to partner with us, we can't do much about the size of the footprint and that restricts the options. Quite a few stands in South America seem to be creative responses to similar constraints. The attached image is another example of something that could work.

Whilst the new main stand will have new executive facilities, probably of a much better standard than those in the Whitehorse, that doesn't mean we couldn't have more, new boxes in a new Whitehorse stand if there is demand enough. Or just have a series of little mini tiers of normal seating. It could be ok. I certainly think that a stand of that type would, whilst not being as good as a mirror of the holmesdale, still be worthwhile.

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

I had forgotten all that business about removing the front rows at the Whitehorse. From memory, they are adding corner seats between the main stand and the holmesdale, and between the holmesdale and the Arthur, but not to either side of the Whitehorse, so it really will look like the runt of the litter.

Ultimately, unless Sainsbury's want to partner with us, we can't do much about the size of the footprint and that restricts the options. Quite a few stands in South America seem to be creative responses to similar constraints. The attached image is another example of something that could work.

Whilst the new main stand will have new executive facilities, probably of a much better standard than those in the Whitehorse, that doesn't mean we couldn't have more, new boxes in a new Whitehorse stand if there is demand enough. Or just have a series of little mini tiers of normal seating. It could be ok. I certainly think that a stand of that type would, whilst not being as good as a mirror of the holmesdale, still be worthwhile.

That looks good and would allow for greater hospitality income but wouldn't do much for the capacity.

Unless we are building over Sainsbury's, a modest increase in capacity would be all we could hope for.
If one tier sits on top of the other, you could maybe get another 3 or 4k with the boxes on top.

 

[HKOwen]

That looks good and would allow for greater hospitality income but wouldn't do much for the capacity.

Unless we are building over Sainsbury's, a modest increase in capacity would be all we could hope for.
If one tier sits on top of the other, you could maybe get another 3 or 4k with the boxes on top.

A few thousand seats more is welcome but does not financially justify the cost. I just can't see SE 25 being a go to postcode for company off sites and away days

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

A few thousand seats more is welcome but does not financially justify the cost. I just can't see SE 25 being a go to postcode for company off sites and away days

The Premier League is a big pull, but I suppose you could argue that only high demand would justify a load of nice new boxes, although sometimes, you have to build them first to create the demand.

I feel like the image of the club alone would be justification enough to fix the embarrassment that the Whitehorse will become.

 

[Lawrie]

From what I understand I don’t think we need to be talking new boxes at this time.
I, as a member, frequently get emails inviting me buy an executive box for this match or another. This suggests to me that we don’t always sell the ones we’ve got.
I may have completely misunderstood here, but to me, ordinary seats for ordinary bums is what we need.