Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ Mar. 22 2005,13:24)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (glasgowsufc @ Mar. 22 2005,09:27)]I'm not going to come to any conclusions on how true this story is until we get an Official Announcement.
Now a lot of people have mentioned throughout this thread the possibility/viability of redeveloping RH, and then commented that it would be held back because of the cost & lack of funds available from The Football Foundation etc whereas a new stadium would be eligible for such grants. In last months Four Four Two there was a small interview with Barry Hearn who commented that for Orient's new £10m stand he has only had to find a total of £1.5m, the rest coming from other various sources including The FF. In fact, I think he goes on to say that when Birdbrain Rd is fully redeveloped into a 10,000 all seater at a total cost of £25m he will only have put in approx 1/5 of that amount (some of which being generated by having Bellway flats built in each corner of the stadium).
Does anybody know how he's managed to qualify for this funding & if it is possible for them, why Ron & SUFC could not investigate doing the same? Obviously, the additional income available from being in a new stadium is something that we would lose out on if RH was redeveloped, but I think as long as we have a club, all options need to be fully investigated & costed.
I saw an article on Borient's ground redevelopment at the weekend. Basically, Hearn bought Birdbrain Road from the local council for £1, then sold off the four corners for housing for £7.5m. Additional grants from what was the Football Trust topped this amount up to £9.5m leaving Hearn to find £0.5m for the initial £10m development costs.
The office space (25,000 sq ft) in the new West Stand is expected to produce rent of £500,000 pa so he'll brake even after year one. Overall, the office and other space is expected to produce extra revenue of £750k pa. Hearn says this will all be used to subsidise the team. We shall see!
In terms of grants available, I don't think there is any difference between what is available if you move ground and if you redevelop an existing ground. In the post Hillsborough years the Football Trust (who were funded by levies on the Pools) would pay something like 80% of the costs subject to certain limits. There must be a website with some up to date info on what's available.
What makes a new ground more viable than redeveloping the existing ground is that a new ground tends to be built on cheap land (and free in the case of some clubs) from the proceeds of selling the current ground which is on a relatively expensive town centre site. Hence, redeveloping Roots Hall is not viable unless we can magic up £10+ from somewhere to cover the cost of buying back RH and then rebuilding it.
