Planning permission documentation explains the reconfiguration of the Olympic Stadium seating which will be used by West Ham when they move in in the summer of 2016.
The planning documents explain (abbreviated and edited):
“The seating is proposed to be retained at a potential 80,000 spectator capacity to allow for flexible seating configurations for different events throughout the year. The sports event capacity is intended to be up to 60,000 spectators, and the retention of the additional 20,000 seats enables the potential flexibility of layout for other events.
“The significant change to the existing venue will be the reconstruction of the lower tier into a set of relocatable units to improve proximity and spectator experience for pitch sport modes, and re-building of a new fixed mid-tier for the West Stand to achieve better sight lines over the new lower tier in football mode.
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The new lower tier is proposed to be constructed as eight separate deployable retractable seating sections. These sections will have the wheels retracted when they are in the fixed position but when deployed the wheels will rotate down to lift the whole unit. Each wheel has a drive motor to push the section across the pitch perimeter to the required position, controlled by an automated system. For retractable seating that need to cross the running track, a bespoke track protection layer will be laid across the travel path.
“When the retractable seating is deployed forward for the football mode configuration, space is created behind the stand for vehicles to bring in and install the connecting bridges between the back of the lower sections and the front edge of the concourse. These bridge units will be steel-framed units with anti-slip deck surfacing. The units will have steel mesh side guarding and hand rails that fold down for easy transportation, and lock into the upright position when in use. Safety netting will be installed between the bridges during the football season as part of the venue dressing, and to both screen and secure gaps, and prevent litter from collecting the area below.
“On the East stand only for pitch sports event mode, an extension of the lower tier will be built on the podium, extending the lower tier back towards the front edge of the upper tier. This tier extension will be made from demountable lightweight composite steel.
“For the upper tiers, On the west side, the proposed elevated seating is divided into a mid-tier for approximately 1,400 spectators; and upper tier, to allow for two additional levels of accommodation to be slotted into the structure. This accommodation provides essential operational areas that require a view of the arena.
“On the north, south and east sides, the elevated seating comprises a single upper tier, which is contiguous with the upper tier on the west, with approx 53,000 seats completing the bowl. The upper tier will be largely unchanged from the Olympic Games mode; however, to allow space for the new roof structure seats will be removed from the two back rows, where headroom would be reduced below acceptable standards.
So we are moving into a stadium with 20k of empty seats,bridges & gaps covered in netting,lol,sounds more & more appealing with every article i read 😉
Hello all, after months of reading this site, I thought it about time to register and actually get involved!!
Anyway, getting to the point; I bought a ticket to the athletics on Friday night (17.07.15) and I must admit I was very impressed overall with the stadium and now have a much better picture of how it is set up prior to my reservation for the season ticket move.
I just thought I would share my thoughts for those who maybe couldn’t make it.
The approach to the stadium is fantastic, it really is an imposing site on the skyline as you get nearer it and I cannot wait to see it lit in the mighty Claret and Blue externally.
We were lucky enough to be in row 7, on the 100m straight (awesome for the Usain Bolt show and finishes to the evenings various races!) These seats seemed to be temporary, or at least the staging they were mounted on was.
Each seat as far as I could see also has a nice strip of padding to the back rest and seat area, which was a nice touch and a nice gap between the seats both side by side (hopefully me and my pals wont touch shoulders as we currently do at the Boleyn, with one or two of us sitting at an angle to avoid being “wedged” !) along with ample space between your knees and the back of the seat in front…
I am not sure if this configuration will alter much when in football mode.
Behind the scenes, in the concourses there is still much to do, the toilets have a nice Claret paint job, and partial coating to the floors, and overall there’s plenty of space, much like the Emirates, which I was very impressed with a couples of seasons back.
There were a number of things that did concern me however:
The much lauded roof actually leaked when the rain really came down, I am surprised the media have not picked up on how bad it was to be honest.
People sitting near us were literally getting soaked through the constant drips falling during the event, water was running off the ceiling mounted speakers and metal work.
I took a stroll about and there were similar leaks for as far as I could get, this maybe something the contractors are yet to finalise; maybe mastic joints have not been completed or something, but its definitely something that should be “snagged” by the powers that be. Many people near us actually moved seats as they were getting that wet!
I am definitely “pro” the new stadium since having a look and experiencing an event there, but still have reservations about leaving our beloved Boleyn Ground… I guess everything changes and this is a truly iconic stadium which we can hopefully all enjoy for years to come!
Welcome Citizen
I work full time on these construction projects and those leaks and things happen all the time all over Europe, the 02, Arsenal & Wembley stadiums – will defo get snagged and is par for the coarse. Loved hearing your opinion on the stadium as I have not been there for a year or so. Sounds like lots of work needs doing before the grand opening but plenty of time to get those things done.
I cant wait to move into such a modern stadium & your right about the approach to the stadium, indeed the whole surrounding area is a million miles better than what we have been used to
Square pegs – round holes. A lot of compromises have had to be made to make this a retrospective football / multi-purpose stadium.
My biggest concern is that this stadium will be like playing at a neutral ground for away teams. Fans will be too far away for any form of intimidation factor, notwithstanding the fact that the capacity size / ticket prices will mean there will be a lot of neutral / away / transient / tourist fans. Evidence of this is the multiple kids for a quid games needed to fill the Boleyn, with the atmosphere being akin to a victory shield match.
I’m also fed up with the propaganda around the move from the club, particularly the line about no seat being further away then the furthest seat at Wembley. We all know some of the seats at Wembley are miles away, but what we really want to know is how does the closest seat compare – I’m assuming not too well (apart from by the corner flag maybe)?
I can see how this all makes sense financially, it is virtually a free stadium (for 25 days a year) but I expect the fan experience will be amongst the worst in the league (I sincerely hope and I’ll be delighted if I am wrong).
Thanks for the detailed explanation, but I can’t help but feel that it’s going to look like a patch work stadium especially behind the goals.
I can’t understand with all the cost involved and the fact they are going to rip out the existing track, why they didn’t dig down like the city of Manchester stadium. They could have installed the retractable seating properly and they would have been flush with the upper tiers instead of having a moat around between the stands. I know our logo is of a castle but really, do we need a moat?
By sound of Citizen79 we won’t even need to fill it, the rain and leaky roof will do that.
I know someone will reply and say it’s al about cost, but since we only paid £15m, our owners could have contributed more to making look like a proper stadium from the sale of Upton Park. They sound like they just want to get rid to some rich Russian or Arab they don’t care what it will look like.
The running track has to remain in the stadium, that is why digging down like at manchester is not possible.
Carrying on with what I was saying, considering that for the majority of the time the stadium will set in football mode, surely it would have been better off looking like a proper stadium. Then the seats could have been retracted for the couple of thousand people watching atheletics a couple if times a year. I know the stands would have looked weird, but that would only be for atheletics and to be honest who cares.
Yes the view might be great from the upper tiers but there won’t be no atmosphere.
Heskey’s available apparently.