The 1000 extra seats required.

[Jonty]

@bamber678 hes talking about u

The roof makes for a miles better atmosphere and long may it continue

Yeah maybe
With the ambition and backing of the board we should be a league club for the foreseeable future and we deserve a stadium to replicate that. A stanchion every 3 metres across makes it look terrible and the view is restricted. It’s non league at best and we should have got a cantilever roof. Apparently it was £250k more, unsure how true that figure is though. It seems like the board rushed the decision for the roof and should have thought about it more. Away fans can’t see anything left of the goal and home fans can’t see much more to the right of the goal

It does appear over engineered but probably considered the winds we get directly from the west. Could they have gone for a full span “goalpost” type structure that would have kept off the terrace totally obstruction free. Design team must've seen that was an option, less foundation work and probably no more steelwork than what was used. Just a different type of structure. Ultimately down to cost.

The views along the back rows are poor- especially for the away fans. The segregation framework and spud sack netting doesn’t help.

[litefoot]

Yeah maybe
With the ambition and backing of the board we should be a league club for the foreseeable future and we deserve a stadium to replicate that. A stanchion every 3 metres across makes it look terrible and the view is restricted. It’s non league at best and we should have got a cantilever roof. Apparently it was £250k more, unsure how true that figure is though. It seems like the board rushed the decision for the roof and should have thought about it more. Away fans can’t see anything left of the goal and home fans can’t see much more to the right of the goal

It does appear over engineered but probably considered the winds we get directly from the west. Could they have gone for a full span “goalpost” type structure that would have kept off the terrace totally obstruction free. Design team must've seen that was an option, less foundation work and probably no more steelwork than what was used. Just a different type of structure. Ultimately down to cost.

The views along the back rows are poor- especially for the away fans. The segregation framework and spud sack netting doesn’t help.

How many L2 clubs have got a cantilever stand (or even a full span goalpost one), especially over terracing behind a goal? Swindon haven't - we've got the Town End which has eight posts (and a floodlight pylon through the roof!) and the Stratton Bank, which is open seating. Admittedly in L2 it's normally closed - it was open to away fans for the Man City Cup game and it's open tomorrow for home fans to pay on the door (you'll get the end block of the North Stand), but in L1 it's pretty embarrassing (there are plans for a roof, but it's never had one and the seats went in c. 1994, so if we don't go up, it'll probably be the same next year as well).

TBH if you could eventually get a new roof (which might require a new rear wall) on the HSE and get the posts down to something like half a dozen and there was no need for any seats because you can accommodate this elsewhere, it would be a decent lower league/more than decent non-league end. Anything else seems a bit extravagant when you've got a main stand to extend/rebuild and the Steelworks End to sort out. Re the segregation: can't you put up plexiglass during the summer? It might cost a bit but at least it's clear, and now most 2022/23 L2 fans will have had a chance to visit Holker Street, you can't just rely on away fans ticking another ground off their list. If the view's less restricted it's not going to harm ticket sales.

Congrats for staying up btw. I was dreading playing you in game 45 because we might have sent you down but there's no danger of that now.

[Peaceful Grecian]

If looking to do things on the cheap, I think making the Holker Road End all-seater (and perhaps turning it over entirely to away fans) is the only way, as noted in the first post of this thread. I've read that there are 130 seats in that stand, despite the seated section only extending two stanchions in width (a new standard unit), so 65 seats per stanchion unit. There are 13 stanchion units in that stand, so putting the same number of seats in each would bring 845 additional seats. Giving it all over to away supporters means not losing any seated capacity to segregation, though I'm not sure whether the EFL considers that as part of their 2,000 seats calculation.

From there, it would just be a case of putting a small structure next to the Cross Bar with a few seats in it, perhaps something akin to what Stadium Solutions put in at Bury Town. I know the fan zone is there, but the stand doesn't need to be very deep, so very little space would need to be surrendered. I don't think the steps in front of the Cross Bar could fit even 150 seats, but if they can then that's an even cheaper solution. Nobody necessarily needs to use the seats outside of sell-outs, they just need to exist.

I'm not a Barrow fan nor a Barrovian, and I imagine asking supporters that have made that end their home wouldn't be popular, but it would probably be the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to bring the ground a lot closer to compliance with EFL regulations.

Also, the obligatory congratulations for staying up, but also glad that we (Exeter) won't be playing you next season. Never fancy our chances when playing against Barrow.

[Hadrian]

Filling HSE with seats would reduce standing capacity and therefore overall capacity below the minimum required.

We have minimal opportunity to make use of seats on the site of the former West Terrace - the BA Stand doesn't fill as it is. More away seats at the east end of the BA Stand would stand a chance of being used on a number of occasions per season.

Enjoy League One!

[bluessupporter]

If looking to do things on the cheap, I think making the Holker Road End all-seater (and perhaps turning it over entirely to away fans) is the only way, as noted in the first post of this thread. I've read that there are 130 seats in that stand, despite the seated section only extending two stanchions in width (a new standard unit), so 65 seats per stanchion unit. There are 13 stanchion units in that stand, so putting the same number of seats in each would bring 845 additional seats. Giving it all over to away supporters means not losing any seated capacity to segregation, though I'm not sure whether the EFL considers that as part of their 2,000 seats calculation.

From there, it would just be a case of putting a small structure next to the Cross Bar with a few seats in it, perhaps something akin to what Stadium Solutions put in at Bury Town. I know the fan zone is there, but the stand doesn't need to be very deep, so very little space would need to be surrendered. I don't think the steps in front of the Cross Bar could fit even 150 seats, but if they can then that's an even cheaper solution. Nobody necessarily needs to use the seats outside of sell-outs, they just need to exist.

I'm not a Barrow fan nor a Barrovian, and I imagine asking supporters that have made that end their home wouldn't be popular, but it would probably be the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to bring the ground a lot closer to compliance with EFL regulations.

Also, the obligatory congratulations for staying up, but also glad that we (Exeter) won't be playing you next season. Never fancy our chances when playing against Barrow.

For someone who's not a Barrow fan or a Barrovian you seem to know an awful lot about the ground and seating solutions. Also interested to note that this was your first post - under this name anyway! Or maybe you work for Stadium Solutions!

[Jonty]

What you have shown there in the link would be great at the cross bar end- either side of the goals, with the roof line just under the Crossbar windows and continuing over the tunnel without a break, It would massively improve the ground. If room permitted for four rows I would say you could probably get 400-500 along that end. Think we would all like to see fans back behind that goal again.

[Wintergreen]

What you have shown there in the link would be great at the cross bar end- either side of the goals, with the roof line just under the Crossbar windows and continuing over the tunnel without a break, It would massively improve the ground. If room permitted for four rows I would say you could probably get 400-500 along that end. Think we would all like to see fans back behind that goal again.

Agreed. Great option and absolutely doable. Some time ago Paul Hornby promised something ‘special’ like this but it never happened. Now is the time.

[Peaceful Grecian]

If looking to do things on the cheap, I think making the Holker Road End all-seater (and perhaps turning it over entirely to away fans) is the only way, as noted in the first post of this thread. I've read that there are 130 seats in that stand, despite the seated section only extending two stanchions in width (a new standard unit), so 65 seats per stanchion unit. There are 13 stanchion units in that stand, so putting the same number of seats in each would bring 845 additional seats. Giving it all over to away supporters means not losing any seated capacity to segregation, though I'm not sure whether the EFL considers that as part of their 2,000 seats calculation.

From there, it would just be a case of putting a small structure next to the Cross Bar with a few seats in it, perhaps something akin to what Stadium Solutions put in at Bury Town. I know the fan zone is there, but the stand doesn't need to be very deep, so very little space would need to be surrendered. I don't think the steps in front of the Cross Bar could fit even 150 seats, but if they can then that's an even cheaper solution. Nobody necessarily needs to use the seats outside of sell-outs, they just need to exist.

I'm not a Barrow fan nor a Barrovian, and I imagine asking supporters that have made that end their home wouldn't be popular, but it would probably be the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to bring the ground a lot closer to compliance with EFL regulations.

Also, the obligatory congratulations for staying up, but also glad that we (Exeter) won't be playing you next season. Never fancy our chances when playing against Barrow.

For someone who's not a Barrow fan or a Barrovian you seem to know an awful lot about the ground and seating solutions. Also interested to note that this was your first post - under this name anyway! Or maybe you work for Stadium Solutions!

Aha, I'm more active on a forum focused on engineering (SkyscraperCity), and the redevelopment to the Holker Street End was covered there in 2020(?). I came here to lurk before our game and try get the general feeling of fans here, but became more interested by this thread and the training ground thread (for what it's worth on that front, "players won't move to this part of the country" is an argument we hear over and over again from fans and managers in Exeter).

[Gazza]

What you have shown there in the link would be great at the cross bar end- either side of the goals, with the roof line just under the Crossbar windows and continuing over the tunnel without a break, It would massively improve the ground. If room permitted for four rows I would say you could probably get 400-500 along that end. Think we would all like to see fans back behind that goal again.

Agreed. Great option and absolutely doable. Some time ago Paul Hornby promised something ‘special’ like this but it never happened. Now is the time.

Really like this idea. Current tunnel blends into the stand, and seats either side. The wall at that end (and I believe the Holker St end) is coming down to be replaced by something more modern and safe so bring the new barrier in a bit further forward than the current wall, shorten the pitch by a couple of yards (assuming it’s still within regulation size) you would fit one of those stands in nicely. It sounds perfectly feasible to me. You’d be surprised how many seats you could get in that end if it run the full length.

[Peaceful Grecian]

Agreed. Great option and absolutely doable. Some time ago Paul Hornby promised something ‘special’ like this but it never happened. Now is the time.

Really like this idea. Current tunnel blends into the stand, and seats either side. The wall at that end (and I believe the Holker St end) is coming down to be replaced by something more modern and safe so bring the new barrier in a bit further forward than the current wall, shorten the pitch by a couple of yards (assuming it’s still within regulation size) you would fit one of those stands in nicely. It sounds perfectly feasible to me. You’d be surprised how many seats you could get in that end if it run the full length.

I've read that currently the Holker Street pitch is 100×68 (metres) or 101×68. If this is true, reclaiming space at the ends will be impossible, as the EFL minimum is 100×64. On top of this, the shortest possible distance between the goal line and the pitch is set at 2.25 metres (Regulation 24.3). I think it'll be extremely difficult to get a stand running the full width with the Cross Bar set right where it is.

It baffles me a bit as to why it was ever built there, honestly. Is there some factor that I'm unaware of that made setting it back 5 metres impossible?

[Lancaster Branch]

It baffles me a bit as to why it was ever built there, honestly. Is there some factor that I'm unaware of that made setting it back 5 metres impossible?

It was built in the 70s, it’s not like we built it a few seasons ago. Go back 5m and you’re onto Furness Rovers’ land, give or take a few centimetres.

The whole thing needs demolishing and a new stand building. Anyone with a few million quid spare, please #emailtheclub

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

It baffles me a bit as to why it was ever built there, honestly. Is there some factor that I'm unaware of that made setting it back 5 metres impossible?

It was built in the 70s, it’s not like we built it a few seasons ago. Go back 5m and you’re onto Furness Rovers’ land, give or take a few centimetres.

The whole thing needs demolishing and a new stand building. Anyone with a few million quid spare, please #emailtheclub

IIRC it was built when Bill McCullough was chairmen using a cheap Labour scheme at the time called YTS

[Peaceful Grecian]

It baffles me a bit as to why it was ever built there, honestly. Is there some factor that I'm unaware of that made setting it back 5 metres impossible?

It was built in the 70s, it’s not like we built it a few seasons ago. Go back 5m and you’re onto Furness Rovers’ land, give or take a few centimetres.

The whole thing needs demolishing and a new stand building. Anyone with a few million quid spare, please #emailtheclub

Oh fair. I suppose the issue (as ever) is money. It's hard to justify knocking down a structure when it still has some life in it, the same was true at Exeter, until our academy windfalls.

[Wintergreen]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before if so apologies, but would rail seats be considered a viable option for the problem? You’d get a fair few along the Steelworks End l would think.

61655FB3-3C5F-4AC7-BE03-9CCE758A9DB0.jpeg (24.85 KiB) Viewed 3631 times

[Lancaster Branch]

It was built in the 70s, it’s not like we built it a few seasons ago. Go back 5m and you’re onto Furness Rovers’ land, give or take a few centimetres.

The whole thing needs demolishing and a new stand building. Anyone with a few million quid spare, please #emailtheclub

Oh fair. I suppose the issue (as ever) is money. It's hard to justify knocking down a structure when it still has some life in it, the same was true at Exeter, until our academy windfalls.

Aye, indeed. None of the 4 sides of our ground are ideal, we’re still in make do and mend mode to meet the EFL criteria. But all season we’ve had away fans asking “why don’t you do x or y?” Money being the obvious answer. Time being the other.

I think it’s stick or twist for the ground. We either do the bare minimum to meet the criteria and that’s it or we borrow a shedload of money to set us on the way to building 4 new stands, one at a time, that bring in revenue.