Crystal Palace & Their Plans For The New Selhurst Park

Over the past decade many clubs have looked to push on into the modern era of football with slick new stadiums. Joining the likes of Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish has revealed plans to redevelop Selhurst Park.

The South London club are looking to increase the stadium’s capacity from 26,000 to over 34,000 to get more fans into the ground on matchday as well as giving it a new look.

On the £75m-£100m planned redevelopment, Parish said:

“We need a stadium that reflects who we are, how far we have come and where we want to go – a stadium that South London can be proud of, a home worthy of our incredible support and unique atmosphere and this great Premier League we represent.

We are creating a new home worthy of our Club, our fans and our community, and a celebration of our 112 years in south London”.

Parish was also sure that despite making the move further into the modern era of football, the tradition and history of Palace would not be lost:

“We have worked long and hard and looked at several options over the years, including returning to the original site of Crystal Palace, which wasn’t viable. While we can’t go back to it, we can build a new one and today I am proud, in conjunction with our partners KSS, to introduce a new Selhurst Park with a new Crystal Palace for a new era.”

The ‘new Crystal Palace’ will take its inspiration from the Crystal Palace of old with many of the stadiums incoming features paying homage it’s South London roots.

One way they’ll be doing this is by adding a museum to the stadium to show off their 112 year history in South London.

However, the most impressive of all is the new five-storey stand fitted with an all-glass front – a homage to the club’s earliest days when it stood in the shadows of the original Crystal Palace, erected on Sydenham Hill. A central vaulted arch, with the famous Eagle crest, is a reminder of the iconic 1851 Exhibition Hall, and eagle wings flank the 41-metre structure.

As well as this, the changes planned for inside the stadium are also impressive. The club will be increasing the pitch size from 101.5m x 68, to 105m x68m along with increasing the sizes of the stands to help fit a roof in the stadium which will be designed to amplify the already huge atmosphere around the ground.

The capacity in the new stand (opposite the Arthur Wait Stand) will increase from around 5,400 to 13,500, with more than 10,700 General Admission seats – an increase of around 6,000 on existing numbers. With these plans the Main Stand will remain fully functional to minimise any effects on stadium capacity over the building process.

The redevelopment will of the stadium will be handled by leading stadium architects, KSS, the firm behind the redevelopment of iconic sporting venues, including Anfield, Twickenham and Wimbledon.

Nick Marshall, director of architects KSS, said:

“Our brief was to create an impressive sense of arrival and an experience the fans can be proud of, retaining the special atmosphere at one of the best grounds in the country.

“It’s already one of the best places to watch football and we certainly don’t want to ruin that, it has to be driven by the fan experience. There’s going to be a great relationship between the new stand and the Arthur Wait Stand, which is going to work fantastically.

It’s a very exciting project and we are privileged to be working on it with Crystal Palace”.

The project is expected to be taken to Croydon Council in January 2018 with the vision of starting to work on the Stadium within the next 12 months with an estimated completion time of around three years.

To get a better sense of what the end product will look like, here’s a video from the club detailing the outcome of the new Selhurst Park: