GT27 (Winter 2001)

Plymouth Argyle are forging ahead with the wholesale redevelopment of Home Park. Three sides of the Devon side’s stadium were demolished in August and work on three new stands is going well. The new structures will provide 12,600 seats in a horseshoe shape and will completely change the face of a venue that still boasts one of the few Archibald Leitch style grandstands. It is hoped that the 2 new ends may be ready for Boxing Day with the third side completed by February. Phase 2 will see the demolition of the grandstand and the building of a 6,000 seat stand on two tiers, possibly as early as next May. (Pictured x 4 in magazine)

Tottenham Hotspur revealed in September that they were seriously considering moving out of White Hart Lane into the new stadium at Picketts Lock after the 2005 World Athletics Championships. However, plans for the athletics stadium near Enfield collapsed just days later as yet another grand scheme was shelved due to financial troubles. By October Spurs were putting pressure on Haringey Council to improve the infrastructure around their current ground so that they could pursue plans to increase the capacity at the Lane. The club have since been given permission to rebuild their East Stand. A three-tier cantilever roofed construction holding approximately 18,000 spectators will increase White Hart Lane’s capacity up to around 44,000.  Plans show the current lower tier being shifted eastwards so the overhang of the upper tiers of the North and South stands will link up in a continuous sweep, as opposed to the clash of angles where old meets new. The third upper tier will overhang Worcester Avenue behind the ground and access will now be pedestrian and emergency vehicles only. The Council were keen to avoid creating a ‘tunnel’, as happened with Old Trafford’s North Stand, for fear of it becoming a haunt for muggers, so a series of ‘stair-towers’ will be built for entering the upper tiers, with walkways higher up. This will let light reach street level and retain an ‘open’ atmosphere. Inevitably for Tottenham, two rows of executive boxes line the rears of the lower and middle tiers but ordinary fans will be pleased to know that lifts are proposed for access to the upper tier too. One point of interest is the peculiar looking centerpiece. No gable or crows nest press box for this stand. Instead, a break in the roofline shows a cockerel on top of what looks more like a planet than a ball!  No start date has been announced yet, which may have something to do with the fact that the plans were drawn up in the Sugar era and the new board may not have the same priorities on where money is to be spent. However, with the collapse of the Pickets Lock, White Hart Lane’s future certainly now looks secure. Archibald Leitch’s old East Stand though, looks doomed. Few tears will be shed for it when it does come down though, as Irving Scholars horrific 1989 ‘refit’ stripped it of its magic and left it as cheap looking as the fibre-glass cockerel that tops it. Its three-tiered replacement looks a far more elegant successor to Leitch’s classic original. (Jim Tuite)

Birse Construction are to build the new £43 million stadium to be used by Hull City. The well-known stadium builders signed a deal to build the 25,000-seat stadium in September but further details of the project have not yet been released.