Stadium Expansion

Good ide - I'll do that in the future

 

Have you got a jack they could borrow?


On a serious note i'd always wondered if you could solve the seats below pitch level problem by changing the GT in to a single tiered stand. So thought i'd try mock it up. Seems to work though you'd have the same problem of seats in front of the roof-line i think and the overlap of the Vic end is quite substantial (though maybe no worse than the other side?) You could always stop the seats a bit short of that of course.
A major advantage of doing that would be that you would gain an area below large enough to incorporate further spectator facilities.

 

Great minds think alike! I actually CADed up a section through the stand of this last night, I'll post when I get back from work. It means going from 16 rows to 14 rows, but then so many seats are currently unusable that it's probably similar capacity.

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The Rous Stand was a single tier design. It was changed because it was cheaper to put in temporary seats. What you see today replaced the temporary seats so it could quite easily become one tier again. I don't think that would increase capacity so
not an option. I don't think that this stand will be replaced anytime soon as there are better options. Interesting hearing that Palace are going to make a big announcement regarding their ground soon. Increasing to 40,000 or a new build at the athletics stadium. Ambitious considering their league position.

 

Yes not an option now as priority is to expand capacity.. but something that could be (and possibly has been) considered as a later development. The improved facilities and increased revenue from a full length lounge type area underneath would, i think, be reason enough to give it some serious thought.


While having a look around the net for the original plans of the West Stand i (finally) found some pics and info. Indeed it was supposed to be a single tier stand.. i'd kinda forgotten that.. but it's also somewhat obvious looking at pics of it's construction. This also means the roofline does indeed cover all the seats if the tier was to be a continuous one.
Not sure how the levels with the pitch would work out though as you would still have some height difference end to end.

 

Mid construction showing how much space would be available under a continuous lower tier..

 

I wonder why they built that way and didn't just continue the main tier all the way down initially.

 

Cost apparently.
Though it's hard to see why it would have cost so much more to have continued the tier. Looking at this pic the underlying concrete beams dont look much different to those of the upper part of the stand, though you would need more upright columns to support the tier and i guess more pilling work.

 

I asked this a (good) while ago: does anybody know if Watford is on "London clay" or "Chiltern chalk"? With the pilings I'm presuming clay.

 

Pretty sure most of Watford is London clay or Alluvial soil and gravels in the lower reaches. The chalk starts in the north and North west towards Ricky and Sarratt. Believe the stadium was original on the sight of a gravel pit hence the bowl shape. Stand to be corrected by those who frequent this thread regularly who have expert geological or surveying knowledge.

 

They jacked up Chicago in the 19th C. The GT shouldnt be an issue.
https://chicagology.com/prefire/raising/

 

It looks like you're more or less right. The closest borehole logs I could get my hands on suggest clay down to approx 5m, but chalk below that. http://scans.bgs.ac.uk/sobi_scans/boreholes/582617/images/12202604.html

 

I'm sure I can also just make out the new design for the cantilevered tea hut down at the Rookery End to replace the old one.

 

No oil down there then

 

'Executive' tea hut' i'd imagine.


Just reading the Executive box features from that programme article.. *Four-channel tv for entertainment and results service.

Boy where they pushing the boat out

 

GT Stand Improvement, on Flickr

As Eastcoastorn said, the single tier won't increase capacity significantly/at all so I doubt it'll ever happen. The only way I could see it happening is as part of the scope to add another tier on top.

 

The gap between the current upper and lower tiers at the rookery end provides the pitch view from the captains bar. Block that off and you'd lose a lot of corporate income.

I've often wondered why they haven't built a platform over the unusable seats at the Vicarage Rd end of the lower GT which could increase wheelchair capacity without losing too many seats.

 

There again you'd get a full length and much larger concourse area with a single tier. Swings and roundabouts.




Btw folks i'm suggesting these are things the club should possibly do when making posts like this. It's just me building castles in the sky until we hear something concrete (pun intended) about any future stadium developments.. and learning a thing or two about the history of the Vic along the way.

 

I'm still in favour of making the SEJ the largest single tier stand in the world, with a capacity of around 40,000, and demolishing most of West Watford to make it happen.

 

This was posted on Twitter the other day, Stevo. Par for the course regarding light rigs for this time of year, what with the cold temperature and short days (and limitless investment)?

 

Landing pad for aliens?

 

Yeah certainly. I see six of those full size rigs pretty much covers half the pitch. There is a gap in between with no light coverage but i still think if closed up you could cover the whole pitch in two moves. A no brainer for placement.

I would guess they would go down to three rigs in Autumn and Spring.

 

Actually on closer inspection i can see the pattern. The nearside rig has light coverage to the half way line and would be used on that half of the field. One move would bring coverage up to where the smaller rigs are covering the box areas.. you can see the two smaller rigs at either end if you look closely. These would be moved across ways.

 

Can you "over do it" - effectively scorching the grass, just as the sun turns most lawns brown in the summer if they're not watered?

 

I'm more concerned the grass getting cancer. Those sunbeds are dangerous.

 

It does dry out somewhat underneath and that gives you the problem of irrigating under the rigs. We found after the third day you needed to think about watering.

I guess it's hypothetically possible to bring about drought conditions through using light rigs but no groundsman would allow that to happen. We know the signs.

 

Weren't the WD18 locals complaining that it was too bright around the area at night because of these?

 

There was an article in the Wobby back in January about the locals not being happy with it:
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/ne...the_sky_above_Watford_sometimes_glow_orange_/



But if you move into a house next to or close to a football ground, I don't think you can complain. Of course the houses were there first - but if the original occupants are still alive, I'm guessing a light sky at night is probably the least of their worries!

 

I've doubled the stadium;s capacity using this one simple trick in MS Paint.


We may need to work on our fitness.

 

Where the hell is Wetford?

 

I'm not sure, but UK Anti-Doping might take an interest in the Vicarage Roidium.

 

I´m sorry, I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Vicarage Road ...

Do not you think the stadium is a bit small? I wonder if there are plans to increase the stadium's capacity.?

I find the stadium beautiful, pity in my opinion to be perhaps a little small ... Does Watford have how many fans approximately?

Thank you

 

As far as anybody knows, it's rumoured that the SEJ stand will be extended at the end of the season. But that's never been officially confirmed, just hinted at in various interviews with the Chief Exec.

Regarding size - yeah it is small in comparison with most premier league grounds, but prior to the Pozzo's owning Watford, we had a 3-sided stadium that was falling apart and we still couldn't fill it. The transformation since they've been here has been nothing short of amazing. Due to the proximity of the surrounding hospital, main road and houses, the club will always be limited regarding how much they can extend it by.

We regularly get 20k through the gates now, but we've taken 40k to our various trips to Wembley over the years. As long as the team continue to compete in the premier league, and we can field players such as Richarlison and Doucoure, the fan base will continue to slowly increase.

 

If we could buy the allotments behind "The Rookery" end of the ground, we could possibly extend back that way, or even do a complete rebuild to include bigger stands, by moving the whole stadium in that direction.

 

Leaving the flats in the middle of the pitch?