Constructive ideas for Ground Development

[Richard Petty]

I wonder what the plan will be for away fans - do we keep (and upgrade/maintain) the long and winding path, or will away fans enter via the High St, which would probably make it impractical to put them in the East Bank/bend. If via the High St, maybe a small terrace along that end - relatively cheap?

In my view we need to do away with the Redan Hill entry point and have away access off the High Street which is actually what we do now for most games. The High Street end could have a mixed stand of say 500 seats (4 rows would provide that) and the rest terracing you could easily get 8 terrace levels behind the 4 rows of seats without having to build a massive stand and that would give you about 1200 terrace spaces so in total around 1700 away capacity. they could have their own catering block with a covered area providing both food and a bar for segregated games with toilets integrated into the block. If placed in one corner that block and its facilities could then be shared by home supporters on non segregated games.

[Birdman]

As much as I like the traditional look of the four-legged floodlight pylons I agree with Richard that a hinged single pole system would be better both for where they could be situated and being easier to maintain.

[RC-Moderator]

I would hope for flexibility. Away fanbases vary from 15 to 1500. Thats a lot of empty seats or wasted income. Needs to be flexible in how it functions.

[Richard Petty]

I would hope for flexibility. Away fanbases vary from 15 to 1500. Thats a lot of empty seats or wasted income. Needs to be flexible in how it functions.

Not that much difference from how it is now really RC, when we put the away fans in the community stand then all of the away areas are left empty. The gain would of course be that all the current segregation area which we can never use would be available for home fans so the net result of my suggestion would actually be an increase in usable capacity.

[RC-Moderator]

Sorry Richard - yes, was agreeing with you! (I think!) Something along the lines you propose.

[ShotOnTarget]

Water harvesting to take advantage of the slope and cut costs of watering the pitch. Additional filtration could provide usable water for other facilities

** And the guttering problem gets addressed

[AdeB]

I would hope for flexibility. Away fanbases vary from 15 to 1500. Thats a lot of empty seats or wasted income. Needs to be flexible in how it functions.

Agreed. At the risk of mentioning Dorking again (!), they are currently constructing a 1200 away terrace behind the goal, which I'm told can be partly, or mostly used by home fans when the away numbers are below 200 or so...

[Wakefield Shots]

Re the floodlights, many of the step 4, 5 & 6 clubs in West Yorkshire are or have already installed led’s. They are brighter and cost less money to run, so a no brainer when initial outlay / positioning is appropriate for that particular club.

[Old Bob]

Eastbank roof to be replaced but with the same shape and again no pillars to obstruct any view. I don’t know what the design of the ‘no pillar’ roof is called. I’ll have a shufti later.

Cantilever.

Regarding floodlight pylons ... I'd like to see low energy lighting incorporated in stand roofs, as is now standard in modern grounds.

That’s the word I was looking for. I knew what it was but I just couldn’t remember it (age creeping up).

Do you think that the stand roofs would be high enough? I have my doubts. I’ll have a look on the footballgroundsguide for the type of lighting that you’re suggesting. Fylde’s are ‘interesting’ :- https://footballgroundguide.com/leagues ... fylde.html

It's the strong winds they get up there, Birdy!

[Bear]

Eastbank to remain as normal terrace with new roof but retain the barrel shape as it's unique to Aldershot - even if that means a couple of pillars.

Floodlights - I'm a traditionalist but there are more cost amd energy saving alternatives. Maybe on the stand butbcould be more like Preston North End?

Parking - we need to have more/better parking with charge points to ensure it can be used as a space for conferneces/events all year round.

Hospitality boxes and improved bar areas for home and away fans

Accessible seating for elderly and disabled

Capacity should be 8,000 -10,000 but remain mainly terracing. Away capacity to be minimum of 2,000 (flexible to allow up to 3,000).

All day social club open all year round like Bromley

I'd love a really big sign /welcome gateway saying Welcome to Aldershot Town FC with the clubs logos form the years and a hall of fame in a prominent position to showcase the clubs an identity with a large "next fixture board" to make the most of our High Street location.

Solar panels on the stands seems a no brainer to me.

The stadium lease to be in the name of "Aldershot Town FC " and once complete, the stadium should be listed as an asset of community value and a new restrictive covenent entered into to ensure that it can only ever be used as a football ground etc.

[80fc]

Purely from a fans perspective the East Bank roof design needs to be kept for the acoustic benefits alone. Probably an engineering nightmare for today's architects

[Richard Petty]

Good list of suggestions Bear, just my thoughts in response to them (In Red). Just my opinion of course entering into the conversation, which is very interesting by the way, I am enjoying this thread as its really interesting to see what we all think and would like to see .

Eastbank to remain as normal terrace with new roof but retain the barrel shape as it's unique to Aldershot - even if that means a couple of pillars.
I must be honest I cant see why some people want to spoil the look of a new stadium with a barrel roof on the Eastbank but happy to concede that's all a matter of personal taste, difficult to build in though and does recreate the guttering issues that the current stand (and others) suffer from

Floodlights - I'm a traditionalist but there are more cost and energy saving alternatives. Maybe on the stand but could be more like Preston North End?
Just had a look at images of Deepdale Stadium https://www.visitpreston.com/article/36 ... le-Stadium, they still have framed pylons which would be little better than we have now, we don't have the space to waste for that type of pylon we need either single post pylons or roof mounted lighting frames on all four stands.

Parking - we need to have more/better parking with charge points to ensure it can be used as a space for conferences/events all year round.
Yes absolutely and great idea about the charging points as I think the club could earn a commission on energy sold from them

Hospitality boxes and improved bar areas for home and away fans
Definitely

Accessible seating for elderly and disabled
Definitely

Capacity should be 8,000 -10,000 but remain mainly terracing. Away capacity to be minimum of 2,000 (flexible to allow up to 3,000).
I think that's a bit unrealistic both from the point of view of what we can afford but also what we would ever need, even if we were in EFL1 we would hardly fill our current capacity, only if we drew one of the bigger Championship clubs or a Premiership club in one of the cups. Also we have already been told that the capacity will be around the same as now, if we had a capacity of 7000 that would be plenty

All day social club open all year round like Bromley
Maybe once or twice a week for some events such as race nights, comedy nights, live music etc..you could try opening one of the bars especially if it did a bit of food but opening every night I doubt you would even cover staff wages as I cant think who would use it in big enough numbers if nothing is going on Large scale events in an enlarged hospitality (Dinners, parties etc..) yes that's where the potential oncome is and what the club must focus on in my opinion

I'd love a really big sign /welcome gateway saying Welcome to Aldershot Town FC with the clubs logos form the years and a hall of fame in a prominent position to showcase the clubs an identity with a large "next fixture board" to make the most of our High Street location.
Yes nice cosmetic touch

Solar panels on the stands seems a no brainer to me.
Absolutely, I am sure any design will include solar panels

The stadium lease to be in the name of "Aldershot Town FC " and once complete, the stadium should be listed as an asset of community value and a new restrictive covenent entered into to ensure that it can only ever be used as a football ground etc.
Lease already is in the name of Aldershot Town Football Club Ltd, as was discussed on here a little while back listing the ground as an asset of community can be done (though doesn't really give much benefit) but to do so will require a not for profit community group to be set up which has no direct connection to the club, so something for someone to look into if they want to do it.

Re a restrictive covenant the only people that could create that would be RBC and they would be highly unlikely to ever want to put one in place. Suppose one day (probably not in my lifetime) we reached the Championship or Premier League and wanted to relocate apart from the fact that with a covenant in place we could never leverage any funding out of the existing ground to assist the move what would RBC then do with it. No a covenant would actually be the last thing that anyone Council, Club or Supporters would want in place.

[dougoftheshots]

Would like to see a new east bank club house behind it like the one at thame in 1992 with hot food being served and plenty of room to sit down and watch a game before ours unlike the down stairs one we have now .

[Joplings tash]

New to shots web .is it time to look at the rec a little differently .How many businesses would put a large number of customers the furthest away from point of entry as possible with a view looking directly into the setting sun? Is it time the waste of land at the high street end is developed properly with a home 1500 stand with good facilities underneath. Convert the east bank to away fans who enter from ordnance road . In order to increase match day revenue the customer needs to spend more time/ money at the ground instead of arriving just before kick off . Maybe ticket and drink deals or early bird drink offers are a revenue stream?

[redandbluescb]

New to shots web .is it time to look at the rec a little differently .How many businesses would put a large number of customers the furthest away from point of entry as possible with a view looking directly into the setting sun? Is it time the waste of land at the high street end is developed properly with a home 1500 stand with good facilities underneath. Convert the east bank to away fans who enter from ordnance road . In order to increase match day revenue the customer needs to spend more time/ money at the ground instead of arriving just before kick off . Maybe ticket and drink deals or early bird drink offers are a revenue stream?

Give the EAST BANK to away fans . You really dont understand our fans newbie