Villa Park redevelopment

[MarkLillis]

17 hours ago, Pongo Waring said:

What the Heck
 

 

This is something I've been waiting for.

Getting to and from Villa Park HAS to get easier. Its the first thing that needs to be done nothing will work without it.

[The Fun Factory]

38 minutes ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

"Adding too many seats too fast" could be related to logistics as opposed to demand. 

And then he said that 40 thousand was enough for us at the moment, even with the waiting list and selling out virtually every home league game for about 2 years.

[Zero7]

Also worth noting as our fan base grows due to success we will have a lot of fans attending at are not in Birmingham and travel by car is the only option. I’ve got no choice other than that 

[The Fun Factory]

If you park what Heck said, the news that the station plan is progressing and they are planning to do the warehouse is promising. A lot of people thought the demolition of the actual stand in 2024 was unrealistic, more like 2025. However, what he said was the most concerning in that the current capacity is enough. This makes no sense given our current demand, what are peers are doing, the fact that Birmingham is a growing and young city,  being a host city for euro 2028, and HS2 is due to reach Curzon Street within the next five-ten years. Has our ambition been scaled back this much?

Edited December 22, 2023 by The Fun Factory

[VillaJ100]

16 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

If you park what Heck said, the news that the station plan is progressing and they are planning to do the warehouse is promising. A lot of people thought the demolition of the actual stand in 2024 was unrealistic, more like 2025. However, what he said was the most concerning in that the current capacity is enough. This makes no sense given our current demand, what are peers are doing, the fact that Birmingham is a growing and young city,  being a host city for euro 2028, and HS2 is due to reach Curzon Street within the next five-ten years. Has our ambition been scaled back this much?

I really hope it isn't the case that owners can talk up their ambition when quite far away but then then when it comes to being one of the best teams in the country there's a big expense attached to maintain that and they are baulking at paying maybe £200 million+ to build a stand and associated works like Warehouse. Whereas they'd be happy with us finishing about 6th regularly using the current ground.

ATEOTD the north stand is embarrassing and should have been pulled down years ago

[CVByrne]

22 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

If you park what Heck said, the news that the station plan is progressing and they are planning to do the warehouse is promising. A lot of people thought the demolition of the actual stand in 2024 was unrealistic, more like 2025. However, what he said was the most concerning in that the current capacity is enough. This makes no sense given our current demand, what are peers are doing, the fact that Birmingham is a growing and young city,  being a host city for euro 2028, and HS2 is due to reach Curzon Street within the next five-ten years. Has our ambition been scaled back this much?

I think demolition and being rebuilt isn't the right way to do it. I think there is a way to do it and keep the stand open during the season. So maybe now the transport issue looks like it will be resolved. We can look at add capacity to VP while keeping all the stands open.

[The Fun Factory]

4 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

I really hope it isn't the case that owners can talk up their ambition when quite far away but then then when it comes to being one of the best teams in the country there's a big expense attached to maintain that and they are baulking at paying maybe £200 million+ to build a stand and associated works like Warehouse. Whereas they'd be happy with us finishing about 6th regularly using the current ground.

ATEOTD the north stand is embarrassing and should have been pulled down years ago

It's not my money and it is a significant investment for the owners to commit to. However, you have to consider the owners got Villa at a knockdown price given the utter shower the club was at in 2018. Building a bigger stadium from scratch would probably be four or five times the cost as well. That is my concern they are happy for us to be the 'best of the rest'.

[Captain_Townsend]

I am sure there is a better way than having no stand for 2 seasons. That said I think it can't be built behind the current stand. For me, it had always been odd that, unlike the new holte and new Trinity,  they hadn't planned to have the lower tier completed quickly and have fans in it while they worked on the upper tiers.

[OutByEaster?]

4 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I think demolition and being rebuilt isn't the right way to do it. I think there is a way to do it and keep the stand open during the season. 

There isn't.

[VillaChris]

18 hours ago, mikeyjavfc said:

Heck’s gamble has paid off and BCC have caved in and offered to pay to upgrade the station. Now to announce the North stand project is back on…

The subway plan under Witton station was released when we announced the Academy building. That was over a year ago and now the Academy is up and running so at least that will give better access routes rather than everyone having to go under Witton bridge which can cause safety issues.

Currently only served by half hour trains so I assume they'll go to 4ph as on CC line and six carriages would be welcome. 

It's a start and you'd assume then with those improvements then 50k stadium could be properly supported by local transport infrastructure.

[Stephen_Evans]

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

There isn't.

Agreed.

Ellis’s plans involved (in his words) an envelope design where a new stand was built around the old stand, which was retained except for the roof (presumably with other means of support to keep the thing standing!) The old plans show a “void” internally between the back of the current North Stand and the new structure around it. That would be the only way to do it while keeping the existing stand in use but it is highly unsatisfactory for many reasons.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Stephen_Evans

[The Fun Factory]

Also isn't closing the North for two seasons though annoying, should not be a deal breaker? It is the smallest stand by far at Villa Park and the worst corporate facilities which I assume generate the smallest  amount of money.  And in talking about phased openings for the lower tier, having a extra 5-6,000 crowd for a year though would generate some cash the biggest reasoning of the new stand would be the improved corporate areas. I assume that would take most of the time with all of the fittings and furnishings, not the bolting of seats into the stand.

If Heck thinks that we would not be able to sell these expensive corporate facilities and that is the reason why he has binned it off, he should say so and point to the evidence.

Edited December 22, 2023 by The Fun Factory

[The Fun Factory]

39 minutes ago, Stephen_Evans said:

Agreed.

Ellis’s plans involved (in his words) an envelope design where a new stand was built around the old stand, which was retained except for the roof (presumably with other means of support to keep the thing standing!) The old plans show a “void” internally between the back of the current North Stand and the new structure around it. That would be the only way to do it while keeping the existing stand in use but it is highly unsatisfactory for many reasons.

Yes agreed. That would be not that cheap and nasty. If we are going ever do this, do it properly. 

[MotoMkali]

7 hours ago, cheltenham_villa said:

The challenge I think with buses is you still have to get them from somewhere. To make a dent to 10000 fans you probably need to muster up 250 buses that aren't being used at any other point. 

Then you've got to get those 250 buses somewhere to wait. 

Then you've got to get them away from the ground at a reasonable pace for it to be worth it. 

So glad I dont work in the transport industry. Fixing this problem feels pretty impossible. 

You can get like 220 people on a bus so if you are talking 5 every 10 minutes you are clearing 5-6k from the area around the stadium. 

[Villatillidie95]

I do think we as fans should take the “too many seats too fast” quote in the way it was intended. They want to be able to increase the prices of ST seats each year, as that is guaranteed income for them prior to the season beginning. The way to do this is to create a demand via scarcity. If there were too many seats you get a situation like at West Ham, who sell a ST for £199 I think, as they have too many seats to fill in their stadium week in and week out. They don’t want their to be slack, that’s better for the fans not the clubs coffers 

[MotoMkali]

I wonder if the club wants CPOs in anticipation of upgrading the Doug Ellis? 

[Nicho]

The north needs to be levelled there is no doubt about that but from a revenue perspective they would get twice as much from me if the service and offerings were better and I’ve been in every stand recently, the space in the lower trinity is the only one where I could get multiple pints/pies before and during a game without it being a farce. 

I like the little tech things they’ve done in the lower holte but the camera tracking thing and the pre order thing is done over by the fact the staff are not pre pouring or really doing much. 

Space is the big problem and why the north demolition is needed, which applies to the Doug and the Holte.

[ender4]

1 hour ago, Villatillidie95 said:

I do think we as fans should take the “too many seats too fast” quote in the way it was intended. They want to be able to increase the prices of ST seats each year, as that is guaranteed income for them prior to the season beginning. The way to do this is to create a demand via scarcity. If there were too many seats you get a situation like at West Ham, who sell a ST for £199 I think, as they have too many seats to fill in their stadium week in and week out. They don’t want their to be slack, that’s better for the fans not the clubs coffers 

Still doesn’t make sense. Even if they increased season tickets by another 25% and that means 3,000 current season ticket holders don’t renew, we can easily fill those spaces at the higher price from our waiting list. 

[ender4]

15 minutes ago, Nicho said:

The north needs to be levelled there is no doubt about that but from a revenue perspective they would get twice as much from me if the service and offerings were better and I’ve been in every stand recently, the space in the lower trinity is the only one where I could get multiple pints/pies before and during a game without it being a farce. 

Yep same here and for my friends. They can add 50% to my ticket spend just by letting me buy food and drinks before and during the match. 

[Stephen_Evans]

The FAB notes use the phrase “on hold”.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Stephen_Evans
Typo