West Stand Poll

If you were in charge and the funds were readily available, what would you do?

 

I'm no architect but the cheapest solution, and as a club we have always shopped in the bargain basement, would be to demolish the back end of the west stand and put a room on the front seats ( what used to be the Terrace). We would lose 2000 from our capacity but how many times do we fill Oakwell?

 

Continue the South Stand around the corner and down the side. Move family stand I to corner. Buy the old Grove steel school land, realign Grove Street parallel to the West Stand. Use the remaining land for a Social Club and apartments for Academy players. To complete the job build a new road, somehow into the East Stand car park from Pontefract Road for safety vehicle access, perhaps through old brewery. Easy, in theory.

 

Demolish and rebuild, but I'd make sure there were meaningful consultation meetings offered to the 1000+ people forced to move (here after referred to as The Displaced), ask them how we can best incorporate the feeling of the old West Stand into any new structure. People felt/feel passionately about that old stand so it obviously offered something to the matchday experience that the other two home stands didn't.

 

I'd keep and renovate. Having the oldest stand in the country would be a good thing.

 

How much renovation could be done to make it still the same stand though?

Replace it.

 

The Triggers Broom paradox...

 

We're already at that stage. The only part that's anywhere near original is the middle section but even that shouldn't have the gantry. Look back at the original photos of the stand and the sh1.t hole we have left now is absolutely nothing like it.

Lower tier is about 25 year old, gantry about 40 year old, side cladding about 5 year old, parts of roof anywhere from 70 to 5 year old, some of the upper tier seats about 15 year old, a third of the upper tier about 70 year old, media section about 3 year old etc.

Nobody can actually answer what they consider original and want saving, mainly because not much of it is

 

Count the number of pillars in this photo then compare it with the number of pillars in the west stand as it is today then ask yourself what is the original design and what isn't?

Edit: actually everything circled in this photo is relatively new and isn't part of the original west stand. On top of that though the entire roof isn't original

 

When was that photo taken? I believe that the end sections were added in the 40's, though I could be wrong. By the way, does anyone know when the Ponty received a roof?

 

Not sure when the photo was taken but the stand was extended to the full length of the pitch in 1939 but never fully completed before the season was abandoned I believe so wasn't used until 1946

 

I see that getting Forest's name correct is not a new problem.

 

I've always been in the renovate and restore camp. But when you look at the bigger picture, that space could be developed into so much more than just a football stand, making the club much more commercially successful. Knock it down and build something new.

 

I was also a "preserver" until a couple of years ago, but I'm pretty sure that making it fit for purpose for the modern era is unlikely to be economically viable.

 

Replica of the east stand. The east has so much space that isn't used and a stand facing the road has so much potential. Doctors surgery, restaurant, bar, shop, offices that can be rented out etc

 

I'm a fan of single tiered stands. I think that the John Street stand at Bramall Lane is absolutely superb. A smaller version of that would be just the ticket. Plus I thought that something the height of the East Stand would be tricky from a planning perspective due to it blocking light from the school?

 

Absolutely! I'd argue that because of how the West Stand is built, there's as much wasted space on that side too.

Something similar to the AJ Bell stadium where Salford Reds and Sale Sharks play would be ideal. Loads of offices for rent, gym etc.

 

The school? Not there now