Crystal Palace give update on their new Main Stand redevelopment at Selhurst Park

Crystal Palace give update on their new Main Stand redevelopment at Selhurst Park, following a summer of preliminary works.

The redevelopment of the Main Stand at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park is a project aimed at transforming the matchday experience for supporters while increasing the stadium’s capacity from 26,000 to more than 34,000.

This project includes new features such as additional general admission seats, enhanced corporate facilities, improved disabled access, and the addition of a club museum.

The construction approach involves building around the existing structure to keep the stadium operational throughout the redevelopment process.

Key areas like the Palace for Life Foundation offices, away dressing rooms, and some hospitality areas, including Speroni’s Restaurant and the Stanley Stephenson Lounge, will be temporarily relocated. New offices are being erected behind the Whitehorse Lane stand to accommodate displaced staff and functions.

The project has seen significant progress with preliminary building works already underway.

The club – who currently sit 15th in the Premier League, with 16 points from 15 games played – has signed the necessary legal agreements with Croydon Council, and they are in the final planning phase, aiming to start major construction at the conclusion of the 2024/25 football season. This includes addressing formal barriers like the acquisition of properties in Wooderson Close and land from Sainsbury’s for construction access.

Detailed construction drawings are being finalised, and a 3D model of the stadium is being developed to visualise the new spaces and manage the flow of people through the new and improved areas. The redevelopment is designed not only to enhance the matchday experience but also to provide new year-round community facilities, in line with the club’s heritage and ambitions for a modern, yet historically resonant, venue.

Following a summer of preliminary works, the Main Stand development is progressing.

December update ⬇️#CPFC

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) December 17, 2024

Following a summer of preliminary works, the Main Stand development is progressing well and is currently in its final planning phase, including ongoing negotiations with contractors, with the intention of starting building works at the conclusion of the 2024/25 football season.

In the summer, Crystal Palace FC signed the final legal agreements with Croydon Council for the redevelopment of the Main Stand.

Initial enabling works have begun towards the construction, including some minor adjustments to the existing Main Stand, and preparations for the expected site footprint.

As is common practice for a development of this magnitude, the club have identified the potential for a small range of Minor Material Amendments to the original stadium design plans, and are in communication with local residents and Croydon Council to obtain permission for these.

These amendments include:

– An updated seating layout to meet new safety guidance;
– Changes to the parking plans, to reduce disruption to local residents;
– Improvements to the proposed Fanzone, car park, and Sainsbury’s car park to meet operational needs and increase greening;
– Enhancing the entrance to the new stand on the Holmesdale Road corner;
– Refinement of the materials and design of the new stand.

The new Main Stand

The new Main Stand will hold 13,500 supporters, compared to 5,200 currently housed in the stand that was built in 1924

All-glass front

Three tiers of seating

25,072sqm inside

41 metres tall

New Club Shop, museum and cafe

The main contractor has completed the Construction Management Plan for the construction phase, and will shortly conclude with Croydon Council – this will help to ensure that lorries entering and leaving the construction site will create the minimum disturbance to residents. This will be constantly monitored and enforced by the contractor and the club.

Crystal Palace’s new Main Stand will provide “a stadium the whole of south London can be proud of,” in Chairman Steve Parish’s words. With new features, including more general admission seats, new corporate facilities, improved disabled access and a club museum, this redevelopment will transform a stand built in 1924.

They said back in June: Preliminary building projects relating to the first steps of construction of the new Main Stand at Selhurst Park are underway and progressing well, with a further range of steps being undertaken during the summer period.

The Main Stand redevelopment project will overhaul Selhurst Park, which has been the club’s home since 1924, and transform supporters’ matchday experience, increasing capacity from 26,000 to more than 34,000 while providing new year-round community facilities.

The construction of the new stand will look to be built around the existing structure, with the aim of keeping the stadium fully operational throughout the build. The video below demonstrates how this process is envisaged to take place.

You will see from the video that, whilst the main seating area will be left in place during the whole construction process so that we can maintain the unique Selhurst Park atmosphere, the Palace for Life Foundation offices, away dressing rooms and some of the hospitality areas and bars – including Speroni’s Restaurant and the Stanley Stephenson Lounge – will be removed and replaced by temporary facilities. For the hospitality areas, this will be a combination of increased space within the current stand – currently occupied by the club’s offices – and temporary facilities in the current car park area.

To facilitate this, new offices are currently being erected in a club-owned building behind the Whitehorse Lane stand (previously Crystals Nightclub). The new office will house the club’s commercial and operations teams, as well as Foundation staff. This will also house a marketing suite for the new Main Stand.

The famous Selhurst Park portacabin, situated between the Main Stand and Holmesdale Road Stand, will also be removed as part of the works to improve access for construction traffic and to allow the construction of the support towers for the stand’s roof.

In recent seasons, the portacabin has housed the opposition changing rooms, which will need to be relocated until the dressing rooms are finished in the new stand. The opposition changing rooms will therefore be placed underneath the Holmesdale Road stand. However, the basement of that stand is not currently watertight but as you can see from the pictures below £1million worth of investment has already begun to make the area completely dry and fit for purpose. When finalised, this space will also house a new kitchen to facilitate all hospitality requirements on both matchdays and non-matchdays, as well as additional parking due to the loss of the current club car park.

As well as this enabling work, the club are in the process of clearing a number of formal barriers towards commencing construction. This includes completing the purchase of six houses located in Wooderson Close. Of the six houses, we are in the process of acquiring all five of the council-owned properties, and we are working with the relevant parties to acquire one privately owned property through a compulsory purchase order (CPO).

We have also reached an agreement with Sainsbury’s over the purchase of a piece of land in the car park and have an option to acquire in place.

In tandem with the above construction, we are finalising the detailed construction drawings and going out to tender for every detailed area, including steel, cladding, bricks and glass materials, whilst also building a computerised three-dimensional model of the stadium in order to visualise the interior spaces, design and movement of people through each general admission and hospitality area.

Twitter users reacted as Crystal Palace give an update on their new Main Stand redevelopment at Selhurst Park…

@29Tommy53: I’ll believe it when I see it (2053)

@bluetiges: Van Aanholt was starting for us when this started

@RyanBro98299563: Just hurry up and build it

@ImAWookieMan: It’s actually happening.

@NathanBarclay98: 8 years for an update is insane

@standinthesun: Mutch shirts were in the CGI shots for this when it was announced btw

@stan_innovate: Here we go again. Strike while the iron is hot , beat rivals , Cup QF and a transfer window looming so need to appease the faithful. I will believe it when I she a shovel in the ground 😂😂

@HunterCPFC: Laying the foundations for why we won’t spend a penny in January.