Featured image credit: Crystal Palace
The redevelopment of Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park is now anticipated to exceed £200m ($265m/€233m) due to increasing costs for construction materials.
The project was announced in 2017 with the total cost estimated to be around £75m before rising to £150m in 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plans include developing the Main Stand which would increase the ground’s total capacity from 25,486 to more than 34,259.
In its most recent update about progress on the stadium, the Premier League club states that following preliminary works last summer the renovation was “progressing well”. This included negotiations with contractors and a re-statement of intention to begin building works in mid-2025.
Originally, it was planned to build the new stand behind, up and over the existing one before demolishing the 1924-built structure.
However, the club is now said to be considering a construction plan that would see the current stand vacated for the entire build process.
This would speed up the project’s completion but would also limit capacity at Selhurst Park with no income received from the 6,000 spectators that the stand currently holds.
A smaller set of temporary seating could be put in place at the front of the stand if this approach was followed.
The redeveloped stadium is predicted to provide Crystal Palace with approximately £20m extra per year in revenue, meaning it could take a decade for the project to break even.
The new five-storey Main Stand, featuring an all-glass front, intends to be a tribute to the club’s early days when it was based in the shadows of the original Crystal Palace on Sydenham Hill.
The plan also includes some minor adjustments that include an updated seating layout to meet new safety guidance; changes to the parking plans to reduce disruption to local residents; improvements to the proposed fanzone; enhancing the entrance to the new stand on the Holmesdale Road corner; and a refinement of the materials and design of the new stand.
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