Drivers Jonas - Leisure Development - London SE7, The Valley
Date: 14 Jul 2005
Greenwich Council have granted approval for Charlton Athletic Football Club to increase the capacity of The Valley, to 30,900. Charlton Athletic FC will add a second tier to the existing East Stand, bringing the top of the stand level with the North and West Stands, and to construct a new south-east quadrant.
Among the new facilities available will be a business information centre, crèche and college facilities plus an extra 30 executive boxes - with the redevelopment further cementing the club's role at the heart of its local community.
Charlton chief executive Peter Varney said: "This decision is vital to the ongoing development of our football club and there is now a clear endorsement to build a new East Stand to take the capacity to 31,000. We have also made clear our ambition to have a ground capacity of 40,600.
"I would like to thank Greenwich Council for endorsing our plans and offer a massive thank you to everyone on our project team who has worked tirelessly to achieve this successful outcome.
"I must particularly thank Richard Arnold of Drivers Jonas, Manuel Nogueira of AND Architects and Sean McGrath of Indigo Planning.
"We have already secured some European funding towards the East Stand project which is important to our financing plans."
The plans were approved by a majority vote of the council's planning board. Following an extensive consultation process, that included a public exhibition of the plans at The Valley last December and the issuing of more than 3,000 letters to homeowners in the surrounding area of the stadium, the council received just 38 objections to the proposals.
Concerns included parking and traffic congestion on match days, the 'overshadowing' of local houses by the new East Stand, and worries about noise and disturbance during the construction process.
But, despite some anxiety from individual councillors, the council considered that these concerns were addressed by the Green Travel Plan submitted by the Club to encourage fans to travel by public transport, the fact that the second tier would only bring that side of the ground level in height with existing parts of the stadium and the 'living wall' that will soften the appearance of the ground.
No timetable for the redevelopment work has yet been set, but the club has already secured a £1m grant from the European Regional Development Fund in recognition of the stress the club is putting on its community activities.
The extension to The Valley will offer more than 50 extra places for disabled fans while it is thought that around 10 new full-time jobs, alongside 50 part-time jobs, will also be created.
At present, Southampton - relegated to the Championship last season - are the only club south of the Thames with a greater capacity than Charlton, at 32,689. DJ also acted as project managers for this stadium.
Drivers Jonas will act as Project Managers and Property advisors for Charlton, whilst AND Architects have designed the new Stand
Ariel view of The Valley
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