Selhurst Park scheme will increase capacity by 8,000 to 34,000

Crystal Palace FC’s revised £100m plan to expand its Selhurst Park stadium have been approved more than four years after the scheme was first approved.

The KSS-designed proposal to boost capacity at the ground from 26,000 to 34,000 was given the green light by Croydon council last week.

Others working on the deal include cost consultant Core 5 and structural engineer Mott MacDonald.

palace pic

How the new stand will look

The scheme will now head to the Greater London Authority for the second time to be signed off by London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Changes to the original application include alterations to ground floor entrances, an additional lift and partitions to lobbies.

The landscaping and public realm has also been rejigged and all heating in the building will now be provided by air source heat pumps instead of gas boilers.

Other work set to be carried out at the ground level includes construction of 24,500 sq m new internal floor space beneath the expanded main stand and a 550 sq m restaurant and retail unit.

The football pitch will be lengthened from 101m to 105m and an accessible seating area will be created within the Whitehorse Lane Stand, resulting in spectator capacity there falling by 690.

Eagles chairman Steve Parish said: “We would have liked to have started the project sooner but our plans were delayed by financial constraints caused by the covid pandemic. There is a lot of preparatory work to be done in the coming months and we will update on a likely timetable in due course.”

Firms expected to run the rule over the job include Buckingham, the contractor behind Fulham’s new stand at its Craven Cottage ground and which is also building the KSS-designed Anfield Road stand for Liverpool, and McLaren, which built new training grounds for Spurs and Leicester City.