Feature

Stoke to begin Bet365 Stadium work next week

English Premier League football club Stoke City has confirmed that renovation work at its Bet365 Stadium home ground will begin next week.

The work will result in the ground, formerly known as the Britannia Stadium, increasing in capacity from 27,902 to over 30,000. Work is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2017-18 season in August.

The south east corner of the ground will be ‘filled in’ with 1,800 seats as part of the upgrade, which will mark the first major work to be done on the stadium since it opened in 1997.

Andrew Scott Ltd, a construction company based in South Wales, has been appointed to carry out the development, which will result in almost 17,000 seats being replaced. The project will see two state-of-the-art LED big screens fitted in the south east and north west corners. The screens will be run from a new media control room, which will be built as part of the renovation.

Additional disabled bays will also be installed to comply with the Accessible Stadia Guide recommendations, while the current mid-terrace disabled bays will be fitted with riser platforms and wheelchair lifts. A high-level wheelchair platform will be fitted in the north east corner of the ground.

Bet365 Stadium’s current big screen will be used for the last time when Stoke host Everton next Wednesday. “Removing the big screen will be one of the first things to happen to release the area of the south east corner within the stadium for groundworks,” Richard Smith, managing director of Stoke City Property, said.

“In parallel, work will start on a new retaining wall outside the ground intended to release space behind the south east corner which will also permit the diversion of the perimeter track. Following completion of the new wall, work will really start in earnest on the new stand.”

Smith added that the match-day experience for fans should not be disrupted while development work is ongoing. The contractors are due to begin work on Monday.

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