The problem with any West Stand Redevelopment

I sit in the west stand lower & love it , what I would like is a new roof covering the both the upper & lower seating & the corner filled in between the Ponty & the west for safe standing , obviously with a roof over it & to finish off the west , a new concourse & toilet facilities etc.

 

Leave the bottom tier as it is add a middle section of excecutive box's to create more income and build up with a new roof and external cladding to help it blend in with the rest of the ground.

 

It wants a listed building status slapping on, it must be 100 year old ?.

 

If not the whole stand, at the very least the bogs should be listed.

 

Mid 1930s I think

 

It were a pretty decent stand in sixties and seventies compared with other lower league clubs . Remember the shay ?

 

The facilities are incredibly dated.

Putting money towards maintaining a dilapidated stand seems a waste.

I get the nostalgia but we also need to move with the times.

 

The East Stand was intended to have a much bigger roof, but the stand sits on the main water pipe that feeds the town center affecting the plans for the original foundations so the stand had to be modified.

 

The problem is, it's like Trigger's brush. How much of the original stand would we actually be preserving? It's been added to repaired and replaced so often that what we've got isn't an antique, it's a pigeon loft. The shape is traditional, but there's nothing aesthetically appealing or of any value about the detail. We'd be far better building a modern stand in a retro style if we just want to keep the general look and feel of it

 

The look, feel & ambience should be the same but where possible modernised whilst being sympathetic to it's original design. Tiny things would massively help - the replaced cladding at the Ponte corner could've had the old Oakwell Ales painted back on, the TV gantry should have the classic 'Barnsley Football Club' painted back on to it. Seats in the West Upper should probably be reduced for leg room but kept dark rather than red. I'd love for the team to come out of there too,even if it's just at kick off. A few extra yards walk from the new tunnel wouldn't hurt them too much...

Small things. Lots of people seem to know the cost of everything but the value of nowt.

 

At present, unless the council, fire brigade or structural engineers condem it there’s little value in replacing it when it’s largely unused anyway.

However, this would be a great idea and could bring new life back to it. Not only that but the cost of it shouldn't be too great as to make it unfeasible.

However, going back to the first point, for all we know the club have been told it’s got a limited life before it has to be knocked down so anything other than necessary repairs and a bit of tarting up wouldn’t be worth it.

 

I don't see anything wrong with that. It's a structure from the late 19th century, and should be treated as we would any other historical building from that period. Almost all of them require changes in order to make them suitable for modern use, and many of them were bashed around in the '60s and '70s, but modern renovations can be done alongside sympathetic restoration of the parts that still work. Modern refurbishments also often include the undoing of any aesthetic damage that has already been carried out and the recreation of original features.

If a Victorian pub or swimming pool (for example) can be restored and brought up to date then I see absolutely no reason why we can't do the same with a football stand.

 

Didn't Preston have a similar stand knocked down and replaced with a smaller updated stand a few years ago? I like that stadium it's similar to ours with a bit of character with the floodlights.

 

All sentiment aside I wish we could do something with it, if not a complete replacement. Watching that interview with Mr Chien and Mr Conway it was interesting to see how basic everything still is up there. The directors' seats are light years behind some other grounds and the old wooden seats behind for the fans must be the same ones that were there when I had my very first season ticket - in 1966! I had a seat right next to the directors' box.

I really wish we could move the changing rooms back there so that the teams can come out on the half way line. I hate seeing them come out next the away fans.

 

Only 2,000 seats though, and so many with a restricted view because of those uprights.

 

Exactly my point. The pool might have different safety measures & facilities but the feel is the same. Be a massive shame & a waste if we just bulldozed it & I think we'd regret it.

 

Hey, that's a thought. I'm sure they could build a longer retractable tunnel that snakes round the back of the west stand to an access door somewhere not too far along. The players could then slip inside the building, walk along a kind of Lords' Long Room affair, and then down the tunnel.

Wonder if it's possible??

 

The question has to be, what exactly are we saving? If there is genuine architectural significance to the stand, or details within the structure and/or the fixtures and fittings have aesthetic/historical value, then yes, by all means, restore rather than replace. But if it's just the style of the stand - the pitched roof essentially - then there's nothing to stop us building a similar new stand with modern facilities rather than forever spending money on repairing an old one that houses people rather uncomfortably. Just because something is old, it doesn't necessarily mean it has value and is worth preserving. I'm not saying that is necessarily the case, but having spent many years as a season ticket holder in the West Stand, I cannot recall anything that took my eye, other than the shape of it. I do like the shape a lot, it's of a bygone era and there's a lot of nostalgia attached to it, but there's nothing to say we cannot style a new stand in the same form.

Having said all the above, I don't believe we need a new stand at present. I would only look to build one, or fully restore what we have, when the upkeep and maintenance of what we have become financially prohibitive.

 

The changing rooms in the North Stand were only ever supposed to be temporary as far as match days are concerned. They were built, primarily, to service the training fields. It was always envisaged that a new West Stand would include match day changing rooms and the players would enter the pitch from the centre of the west stand, down a tunnel, as they always used to.

 

I do share your opinion of the players entering the pitch via the centre of the West stand.