Villa Park Redevelopment

[dave.woodhall]

Would using 20m or so of the park be that much of a disaster?  I know there's a number of trees etc, but in the context of the size of the park, the history of Aston Villa etc and the role the club plays in the community and could play in upgrading the area, would that be too much to ask?

The park is now less than one-ninth of it's original size. We can't continue to make demands on the local community whenever we feel like it.

[KevinGage]

How feasible would it be to reconfigure the Holte into a single tier without having to bulldoze the whole lot?

Dig down rather than build up.

Like the Bernabeu and a few others, set one tier below street level.

[cdbearsfan]

Surely you wouldn't be able to see the pitch? I'll get a ticket for that stand when we play Burnley.

[The Edge]

We could build over the road in the same way we did with the Trinity.

That's what I said in my post but its notoriously difficult to purchase land earmarked as a public space and even if we could the lie of the land in Aston Park would give us even more problems. It's not impossible but it's challenging.

[The Edge]

Surely you wouldn't be able to see the pitch? I'll get a ticket for that stand when we play Burnley.

That's funny lol

[Ad@m]

We could build over the road in the same way we did with the Trinity.

That's what I said in my post but its notoriously difficult to purchase land earmarked as a public space and even if we could the lie of the land in Aston Park would give us even more problems. It's not impossible but it's challenging.

I'm not talking about moving the road (as you said in your post). Leave the road there and put the stand on stilts over it.

It's easier said than done but isn't impossible.

[The Edge]

We could build over the road in the same way we did with the Trinity.

That's what I said in my post but its notoriously difficult to purchase land earmarked as a public space and even if we could the lie of the land in Aston Park would give us even more problems. It's not impossible but it's challenging.

I'm not talking about moving the road (as you said in your post). Leave the road there and put the stand on stilts over it.

It's easier said than done but isn't impossible.

Yeah I know what you meant but again that's a very big ask. Walk down Trinity Rd towards the Holte try to visualise the Holte being built up and over the road. I drive that way 2/3 times a week and I've tried. It would be very difficult to do in fact I'd be amazed if they attempted it. All the available land is at the other end of the ground so I'd expect any expansion of the stadium to be happening there.

[Lastfootstamper]

I still think we should move the pitch 50 yards towards Witton.

[chrisw1]

I still think we should move the pitch 50 yards towards Witton.

But then we're talking a brand new stadium.

[Lastfootstamper]

I still think we should move the pitch 50 yards towards Witton.

But then we're talking a brand new stadium.

Basically, yeah. We're hamstrung by the current location, can't do much besides frippery with three sides as it is, the only room for real capacity increase is a big stand where the North sits now, and I get the sense there'd not be much love for something that might outshine The Holte.

[Nev]

That tapered corner is yet another feature of the ground that should be retained. It's is something unusual, something different and  part of it's character.
The desire to flatten, straighten, level and square off football grounds has given us Stoke, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, and we have lost the Vetch, The Dell and the glorious hump backed Kop at Hillsborough.
Oddities are good, strange shapes are interesting, grounds should not be uniform.

[LeeB]

Well said, as ever, Nev.

[paul_e]

I still think we should move the pitch 50 yards towards Witton.

But then we're talking a brand new stadium.

Basically, yeah. We're hamstrung by the current location, can't do much besides frippery with three sides as it is, the only room for real capacity increase is a big stand where the North sits now, and I get the sense there'd not be much love for something that might outshine The Holte.

Leaving the Trinity and Holte where they are and doing what we can to replace the North (without overshadowing the Holte) and improve the DE you're looking at 50-55k, shift the pitch a little and you could possible add another 5k to that but the cost would be insane, we'd need a temporary ground for a year or 2 and nothing that is there would survive.

If you're going to do that you might as well find a new location and build a 70k+ stadium from scratch on a less restricted site, either way you piss off a huge number of fans so why not go for the one with the bigger commercial impact? If you're destroying everything anyway you don't do it for a marginal gain.

I don't think they have any intention of that though, I suspect a new North Stand, improvements to the DE and internal refits for the other 2 are as far as they'd go.

[JD]

Surely you wouldn't be able to see the pitch? I'll get a ticket for that stand when we play Burnley.

Brilliant CD, a real lol moment.

[CT]

That tapered corner is yet another feature of the ground that should be retained. It's is something unusual, something different and  part of it's character.
The desire to flatten, straighten, level and square off football grounds has given us Stoke, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, and we have lost the Vetch, The Dell and the glorious hump backed Kop at Hillsborough.
Oddities are good, strange shapes are interesting, grounds should not be uniform.

Absolutely this for me too.