If Ashton Vale Is Scrapped....

[Lack of Action Man]

Lansdown is a very clever and very rich man. If AV fails, which I'm pretty certain it will, he will have an plan for the rejuvenation of Ashton Gate.

He must own a lot more land than he ever let's on, especially around Ashton Gate - I would if I had his wealth.

[CardiffBlackLabel]

The land around most of the ground isn't avaliable (large set of flats behind one stand), Industrial & Commercial warehouses other side.

Then there is also the funding - 50% of AV is funded by the additional housing, hotel etc that's being built on the same site.

Why did you move over the road when you could have done the same at Ninian Park? Simple, it's cheaper and easier..

I'm only asking in the context of Ashton Vale falling through..I appreciate the reasons for it being the first preference..Looking on google maps, if you purchased and demolished the warehouse inbetween the 'main stand' and the end opposite the East End (sorry, I don't know the names) then you could quite comfortably build a pretty large stand, getting capacity up to 25,000+ which would be a decent Plan B surely? The new stand could have the conferencing facilities etc.Fine, it's not as good as a new stadium, but seems a reasonable second choice. I don't see the importance of a hotel so much..hotels don't make much money.

[snarf]

If not Ashton Vale then where would you build a new stadium ?

Whitchurch Sports Centre

Imperial Ground

Manor Farm

Either side of Airport Road - Hengrove/Knowle West

Have another crack at Hengrove Leisure Park.

[Manon]

I can't remember the figures but I seem to remember the actual AVg stadium build cost being a surprisingly low percentage of the £92m. I think a large portion of the dough is groundworks, preparing the land.

I recall speaking to the lead architect, Mike Trice, at a consultation and he said sorting the former tip by digging it out(down to pitch level), remedying the refuse/soil so that it is safe, then piling it up under where the stands would be built along with conversion of the south field to wetlands (effectively an irrigation defense against flooding)would take a significant amount of the build time and cost.

There was also the road infrastructure, stadium podium, and a large pedestrian bridge over the brook to be built.

I would go as far as to suggest these works could amount to a much as nearly half the overall cost.

These works would obviously not be required in any redevelopment of ashton gate.

Also there is the land cost of ashton vale. Anyone know how much it was? I realize it was not just lansdown - but in partnership with another - but hypothetically, if that money can be recouped then that could come in handy...

In my video above, I proved av stadium could fit in ashton gate if the space could be made available. This could prove a much more economic approach rather than develop the current ground piecemeal as it would deliver all the benefits of AV and would save on architect fees, and would only result in a 4k drop in capacity for one season rather than for two if developing both rosanna and eat end.