Southend United reveal more details in an update on their new ambitious stadium plans, but have reduced the initial capacity for it.
The National League outfit are set to bring the seating numbers to 17,000 as they hope to start the 2024/25 season from the proposed stadium at Fossetts Farm.
The current Roots Hall ground is expected to be turned into 502 new homes for rent once the football club has relocated.
š¹ 17,000-seater stadium
š¹ ‘Kop End’ with safe standing
š¹ Increased commercial space in first phaseSubstantial progress has been made towards our goal to move to a new stadium.
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ā Southend United FC (@SUFCRootsHall) June 14, 2022
SOUTHEND STATEMENT:
Substantial progress has been made towards our goal to move to a new stadium where we can become a self-sustaining business, capable of competing through the leagues, something that is not possible at Roots Hall without further, unsustainable investment.
For those who are not familiar with our plans, planning permission has been obtained for a new stadium and new training ground facilities at Fossetts Farm together with new substantial enabling residential scheme: www.fossetts.co.uk.
We are working through the planning conditions to enable commencement of the first phase of works comprising the new training ground pitches. Construction of the new stadium and new residential community will then follow.
Our target is to commence the 2024/25 season from the first phase of the new stadium at Fossetts comprising, initially, the south, east and west stands that will incorporate a range of corporate and entertainment space (see below).
Next week we will submitting a Scoping Opinion, ahead of a formal application, to refine the stadium design. We are seeking permission to amend the design to achieve the following:
- Reduce the overall capacity of the seating bowl from 21,000 to 17,000
- Amend the west stand to create our version of the āKop Endā with safe standing
- Increase the commercial space throughout the first phase of the stadium (mainly in the south stand).
We hope that these refinements will lead to two principal benefits for the Club:
- Enhanced revenue generating opportunities for the Club, both on matchdays and non-match days.
- A much-improved supporter experience and better atmosphere.
Importantly, our architects, world renowned stadia architects Populous, have been instructed to maintain the architectural integrity that is currently proposed.
A capacity of 17,000 is substantially more than Bournemouth and on par with Brentford, both teams have shown themselves to be well capable of competing towards the top end of the football pyramid. Our aim is to provide an infrastructure to enable us to emulate the success that teams such as these have had.
The commercial areas will include a range of Bars, Restaurants, the Club Shop, Ticket Office and Conferencing and Banqueting space. In addition to the Supporterās Bar in the South Stand, we will have a large bar area in the West Stand (with music and entertainment) and we will have great food offerings throughout. Indeed, we are using this opportunity to carefully plan the detail of the various food and beverage offerings and hope to share some exciting proposals soon.
The extra commercial space in the first phase will provide us with additional non-matchday opportunities, supplementing the commercial offering in the North Stand (where further enhanced commercial activity will take place). The North Stand will comprise corporate boxes, several conferencing rooms and a ballroom capable of seating 700 guests.
Our consultants have produced the following early visual which we hope gives a feel of how the new stadium will look if the amendment is passed. We will be releasing further images in due course once the plans are further progressed.
All in all, the planned commercial space will help us move from a 30 day a year business to something approaching a 365 day a year business.
The new stadium will be game changing – the Clubās future is bright!
Fans reacted as Southend United reveal more details in an update on their new stadium plans…
@JacckCFC: Canāt wait to see this new stadium when Iām 76
@LiamNUFC98: Donāt build this stadium if you do youāre sharing the same fate as Darlington if you was in the Championship I would understand getting a new stadium
@TweetGraystone: RootsHall is dead. Costs the club far too much to keep open. New stadium will pay for itself when you consider how much the club is currently throwing down the toilet.
@petergoodwin92: Heard it all before. Tell us when building actually starts
@Chefbradpoker: Will never happen
@marcus_ingramuk: Believe it when I see it
@sufcberry: May as well just put normal standing in we are non league after all š¢
@deanallum: How can you expect fans to believe this when you canāt even allow fans to renew season cards by credit card or even tell them if it is going to be a possibility at some stage
Ā
ā Oliver Graystone (@TweetGraystone) June 14, 2022
@dan_mays86: The club have not given that an option and why would they right now if only going to be drip fed the money or may not receive it at all depending on debt. Why not write to the club as they donāt respond to your tweets on here about it as they probably havenāt decided
@ShrimpersTalk: Can’t wait for a three sided Oxford knock off
@mattysufc: I could be wrong here but letās just pretend we move into the 3 sided stadium with the 4th stand āpendingā. The likely hood of capacity being any bigger any roots hall is actually unlikely. Itās possible, until the 4th side comes, the capacity could even be less!
@sjapresley: Believe it when I see it. Almost 40 years of hearing this, Jobson beforehand. We need the stadium but I worry that a 3 sided stadium will be with us for as long as we have waited for this to be realised.
@djmikejolly: Instead of messing around with all these refinements how about refining the plans to work out how you can just build a four sided stadium from the off and give the fans what they deserve? Three sides is an insult after what weāve been through. Weāll be a laughing stock again.
@HB_ITFC: Very strange, splash the cash whilst in non league on a Stadium that you will barely fill a quarter of.
@ricey_essex: Actions speak louder than words, especially words that have been peddled for 30 odd years!
@antsk: Been cynical this will happen for nearly 20 years, time to change? Na, will only believe it when I see it
@RyanStubbs_: It all sounds very positive.. but until the work begins, Iāll remain sceptical.
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