Anyone have access to plans for its redevelopment? I know we don`t need it right now but I`m sure it can`t be long before it has to be done. Extract from Wiki; Future developments[edit] In March 2008, club secretary Don Rowing revealed that the West Stand would be demolished and rebuilt. Given that the average gate at Barnsley accounts for less than 50% of capacity, this appeared to be a strange announcement; however, there are a number of structural concerns with the roof and the wooden floor of the upper tier and it would seem that a new structure is more financially viable than maintaining the existing one. In November 2010, early plans for a redeveloped West Stand were on show at the central library. While the actual capacity was not revealed, the impression given is that the new stand is being built to upgrade facilities and media requirements rather than to increase overall capacity, and may even result in a reduced number of seats.
I'd like to see it pulled down and a modern replacement put up , doesn't have to be 2 tiered just something that is usable and up to date .
Leave the West Stand alone. As Dan above said, it adds character. I don't want yet another tubular steel construction as so many are nowadays. On a personal level, it provides me with many memories.
Architect's at dodworth told me he had the blue prints for west stand and it was to be built similar to east stand, which I think would have looked fantastic, but he was to tight and stuck up his own arse to show me them. Dont think the project would get off the ground and would probably only build a crappy stand if the club had to knock the old one down on structural purposes.
As it says on Wiki, I remember around the time Don Rowing was talking about it on Radio Sheffield and he said something about the club being criticised by the visiting media for the poor facilities available to them and the new stand was to basically to sort this issue out. It is after all still the main stand in terms of media facilities so it does make sense to replace it from that point of view, I'd imagine now we're back in the Championship the club might come back under pressure to press on with replacing it. I'd be sad to see it go but it's not going to last forever, maintenance costs and safety are also likely to be a factor given that it'll probably get a lot more use this season, I just hope when it is finally replaced that it has some character and isn't just some flat pack thing that is done on the cheap. I do wonder if there'd be any difficulties getting planning permission as I presume any new stand would be built right up to the roadside and possibly be taller which may put a lot of those houses in permanent shadow?
I do believe the homes lived in do play a part on the decision of a newly build stand, so it would seem homeowners would have to be bought out and hope they would move or we would have to build a weird looking stand that doesn't go too high which is what I think would happen.
Just had a little bit of a mess to see how much room something of a similar size to the East would work, looks like the footprint of the stand is pretty much the same size as the West and you wouldn't need to both with the enclosure either so may even open the road up a bit...just the height that might be a problem as mentioned before. Not that they'd ever do a carbon copy of the the East anyway, it's 25 years old.
I'd like to see a modern single tiered stand with the necessary press facilities and a gable on top, something like the John Street Stand at Bramall Lane, which looks superb. It holds 6,000, but if we were to build something with a capacity of around 5,000 it would be perfect for our needs. Something else the size of the East Stand would be utterly pointless right now, as I reckon even if riding high in the Championship, we'd only average 15-16,000.
Ahh, so that's what a fully completed oakwell looks like. Hope the neighbours are Barnsley fans, first thing in a morning they would see is welcome to oakwell.
