The spectacle of the rebuilt Olympic Stadium live on BBC TV last night together with many Hammers fans attending the Athletics event in person raised many questions about the running track and how retractable seating will work when West Ham move in.
David Gold was inundated with questions on twitter last night when after he proclaimed. “Retractable seating being installed at the Olympic Stadium” and stated “The seats are retracted. dg” when TV viewers complained how far the pitch was from the front row.
As someone who attended the Anniversary games last night the first thing I will say is keep an open mind. TV pictures and photographes including the one on the right are no substitute to going there in person and the naked eye has a far better experience than the photos portray.
As David Gold suggests the majority of the retractable seating has already been installed but not deployed yet. Both the West and East side lower tier stands have retractable seating in place and it will be used for the first time at a rugby match at the end of August when the Barbarians play Samoa on 29th August.
The retractable seating in the South and North stands has yet to be completed. They have demolished the first 13 rows of these stands and installed temporary seating for the summer events which was clearly visible last night but the back 10 rows remain in permanent concrete for now and will not be used for Rugby matches this summer. The rugby field is longer than a football pitch so the retractable seating at each end was not needed for the Rugby world cup. Construction will recommence in November for North and South stand retractable seating.
The next big question was whether retractable seating covers the running track as spectators and TV viewers spotted the running track was soaked last night in the torrential down our and many speculated that front row of the new stadium could mean West Ham fans could get wet. In fact, the retractable seating does not fully cover the running track. It only fully covers the running track at the Sound and North ends but it remains between the front row seating and the pitch at the West and East stands.
Eagle eyed viewers would have noticed the running track at the North and South ends was completely dry last night while the straights at the side were soaking wet. Have no fear, Hammers fans will remain dry and the new £71m roof will do it’s job in football mode.
The parts of the running track between the seating and the pitch will be fully hidden by artificial turf so will not be on view in football mode and the retractable seating will bring the front row much closer to the pitch than last night so I don’t see a problem as the running track won’t be seen.
The dug outs will sit on top of the running track as can be seen here in the planning permission diagram. The running track is marked by white lines with the seating fully moved forward in football mode.
At the half way line the front row will be 20 metres away from the pitch when the retractable seating is fully extended. Behind each goal the distance reduces to 18 metres from the front row to the goal line. This probably compares with the distance between the current East stand and the pitch at the Boleyn Ground. At the closest point the front row will be just 12 metres from the pitch at the corner flags. As the stadium is curved each seat in the front row will have a slightly different distance to the pitch ranging from 12 to 20 metres.
Spot on summary Sean. I was there last night and checked out my seat in the east stand lower. Currently the rows go from 1 at the front to 22 at the back. When it is pushed forward they will slot additional rows at the back to make it flush with the upper tier, thereby forming a ‘kop’ stand.
This is all confirmed in the planning application.
So why do the design pictures show a gap from top tier to the bottom one. I hope your right about the additional rows being slotted in. That will make the world of difference.
The additional seats are in the presentation of the plans.
Ok thanks
So the distances are bigger than Upron park, but not unacceptably bigger. All seats are well covered, the sightlines are good for cat4, and the atmosphere will be great with the shape and scope of the roof, so I think it’s looking like home already.
Our team will be in shape by the time we go there too, so I can’t wait.
What luxery to be able to get there with none of the usual hassel.
Thanks for the clarification Sean, more than I got out of DG earlier this week when I tweeted him regarding the North and South stands. It was quite visible that the seats set in concrete were never going to retract and there is a visible join where the lower half of the bottom tiers join the concrete section. Glad you have confirmed they are going to be rebuilt after the rugby.
As there seem to be various questions now not to mention confusion about the definition of retractable, those who want to get in depth discussion, renders and explanations or even ask questions if they wish can do so at http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=610996&page=444
A better resource than asking Gold on Twitter for the most part.
There was some question that the dug outs may now be part of the stand rather than as shown in that diagram above though no confirmation as yet.
It is a souless bowl.Having been to the olympics it was a great atmosphere,but i aint feeling it for a midweek match in the middle of the winter with the wind blowing up your kilt.Think there will be many fans left disappointed when they actually go there & dont just have a romantic vision of this amazing new stadium based on pictures alone imho.
are you going this weekend or last weekend to check it out for yourself BB?
No Sean,i aint.I know there will be many changes from when i went but i just cant get the enthusiasm for it im afraid.Ok,so im a miserable git but im just left a little cold by the whole thing.Hope to be proved wrong but im afraid im not holding my breath 😉
Soulless bowl ? I suppose that’ll depend very much on the West Ham fans, same as in the Boleyn. And that famous old example of a midweek match in the middle of winter with the wind blowing ? Well, again that scenario would also affect atmosphere at virtually every football ground, also the Boleyn.
At least midweek winter games would be under the lights which in itself tends to add to the atmosphere.
As long as the football is decent I reckon the rest will pretty much take care of itself.
Yes i mean soulless bowl.Having been there for the olympics it was great but it is quiet at the boleyn these days alot,transfer that into the bowl & it will be highlighted ten fold.It is only my opinion Hamburg,i aint saying all people should think it.Just from my experience i cant see it working.If others love it i will be very happy 😉
All buildings as such are soulless to begin with as they are made of concrete, stone and clay, only when people fill it with life and emotions it does get character. Same with the OS. In that respect it could be fantastic or a total desaster.
Think I would rather have the front of the stands constucted straight to have all front seats 12m from sidelines. Rather bring a raincoat then binoculars☺
I’m keeping an open mind until all the refurbished works have been completed before having a moan up.
One thing I am happy about though is my commute to the O stadium will be 100 x easier via the Javelin train service, 9mins from St Pancras, what a result!
As long as WHU are playing there, what else really matters?
By the way I went back to Stadium again today Sunday and still wowed by it after Friday night