League One football club Northampton Town has reached an agreement with GRS Group to complete work on a new East Stand at Sixfields Stadium.
GRS was chosen after Northampton spoke to various contractors as part of a thorough tendering process carried out by the club.
Work on the stand has been left incomplete for over eight years. In March last year, West Northamptonshire Council agreed to an offer from Town’s owners to acquire land next to the stadium following years of talks.
The East Stand has been mothballed since 2014 after work was suspended as contractors went unpaid. Northampton revealed designs for a proposed redevelopment of the stand in June 2021. The project will increase the capacity of Sixfields to just over 8,000.
Northampton chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “GRS are a large company with a dedicated contracting division which has extensive experience in specialist construction and major projects.
“They also have a number of local connections, with many GRS employees living in the county and they have sponsored Northampton Saints for many years. GRS also has strong links to football as a business partner of the LMA (League Managers Association) as well as being a sponsor of numerous junior teams up and down the country.
“We will now be working with GRS to finalise all aspects of the design for the stand and develop a construction timeline for them to get back on site and finish the job once we have completed all the necessary paperwork with West Northamptonshire Council. As usual we will update supporters as we progress, but this is another major step towards the completion of the East Stand.”
Jon Fisher, GRS Group chief executive, added: “With our local connections we understand the importance to the club and the community of this project, and we are looking forward to getting on site, completing the job and for the fans to be using the East Stand fully once again. We have enjoyed getting to know the club and we will be working closely with them going forward.”
