I'm not interested in your high and mighty attitude but don't go on about it. Read all my posts in this thread, from memory, every single one refers to Saints' ground.

There was not a single comparison between Wire and Wigan's grounds. Not one. Can you read properly?

Sounds horrific. If they've run out of money to clad the outside (Not a massive expense) then how are they going to finish the internals? Or are they not going to bother with that as well? And what about the seats? Are we actually going to have seats?

Surely to god Tesco could fork out for the additional cladding? Tell them if they don't, we'll take theirs.

Of course we are. Don't you see them? There are three: one for the Chairman, one for the CEO and one for the coach. Everyone else gets a new line in stadium seating, otherwise known as concrete steps.

Us in the West Stand are the posh lot. We get barriers to lean on!

Interesting to read about what you were told about the cladding of the East and West stands.

If you look at the official plans they never appeared to show any cladding on the West and East stands, only cladding on the North and South stands.

So from that perspective nothing has changed.

I might also point out that the original perimeter was supposed to be wooden posts with metal fencing.
Changing this to solid Blockwork is an upgrade in the actual build.
It also means fans in the West and East will have a reasonable amount of weather protection. A four meter high wall will pretty much protect you from wind and rain when combined with the large roof overhang. Certainly when i was there last week when it was chucking it down, all the concourses were dry.
This would certainly not be the case if we just had a fence around the edge of the ground.

So are we now saying the ends will be open at the back? So the vending outlets will effectively be outside? Seems bizarre? So how it looks now is basically it?

It can't be an expensive part of the build putting some cladding up surely?

I am only relaying what the member of staff told me. The club has planned and still does plan to clad the whole stadium but the money is not there to clad the West and East Stands at present. On the DVD the stadium was clearly presented as an enclosed stadium with cladding all around. The plans might not have shown that at the time but nor did they show the correct layout of the kitchen, the shop or the press room as all these have changed since the plans were originally drawn up. It is as has been suggested earlier a 'design and build' stadium which seems to translate as the original plans mean very little! I think quite a bit will have changed; it's whether the impact of the changes will be noticed by fans I suppose. No cladding on the ends will be noticed from the outside definitely; I think it will look a bit odd from the outside. But whether fans will notice it inside the stadium remains to be seen.

Incidentally, the two sticky out bits on either side of the curve (interrupting it's oval effect), where I think there are entrances, are also new. They too have something to do with wind resistence but also the one nearest Tesco has something to do with the proximity of the stadium to Tesco although the member of staff couldn't be specific about that.

Anyway, I'm over my disappointment. It was good to have the conversation and I renewed my season ticket which is great. I enjoyed watching old Saints Superleague victories, including the 70-0 match, while waiting patiently with others for over an hour to renew. Hopefully there will continue to be lots of season tickets bought!

Yes, but with cladding along the back wall of the North Stand including the corners. It will look odd from the outside I think but hey-ho, that's what it's going to be.

The venting outlets will also be above the cladding along the North Stand. There will be a one metre gap between the roof and the cladding. Apparently Eastlands soccer stadium is built the same way. And the Emirates. But since I don't watch soccer I have no idea what they look like! (But they have cladding all the way around, obviously, because they aren't poor rugby league clubs!)

Quote ="Saddened!"So are we now saying the ends will be open at the back? So the vending outlets will effectively be outside? Seems bizarre? So how it looks now is basically it? It can't be an expensive part of the build putting some cladding up surely?'" I am only speculating on the "final look" but what Saintsfan said, does make sense. As for the cost of cladding, It doesnt come cheap. The cladding for the Olympic stadium which is basically just a temporary plastic curtain, is costed at £7 million. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14385896 Someone worked out the cost as around £330 per square metre.

Quote ="Saddened!"So are we now saying the ends will be open at the back? So the vending outlets will effectively be outside? Seems bizarre? So how it looks now is basically it? It can't be an expensive part of the build putting some cladding up surely?'" I am only speculating on the "final look" but what Saintsfan said, does make sense. As for the cost of cladding, It doesnt come cheap. The cladding for the Olympic stadium which is basically just a temporary plastic curtain, is costed at £7 million. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14385896 Someone worked out the cost as around £330 per square metre.

Having a gap at the top, will let the stadium breath. When a stadium is completely enclosed such as Old Trafford or Wembley, it affects the ability of the pitch to grow. It can also make for a pretty stifling atmosphere as air circulation is impaired.

Many modern stadia such as the City of Manchester stadium are built with louvred panels that are opened electrically when the stadium is not in use.

This picture below shows the open panels in the far corner between the executive boxes and the third seating tier

Check out this pic showing what Leicester citys stadium is like at the rear www.flickr.com/photos/ryanhubbard/3077344768/ Wonder if Saints will do something like this and put big sponsors adverts between the posts

Check out this pic showing what Leicester citys stadium is like at the rear www.flickr.com/photos/ryanhubbard/3077344768/ Wonder if Saints will do something like this and put big sponsors adverts between the posts

That wasn't the reason given though. The reason given was that without the 1m gap, the wind could blow the stadium down. The gap allows the wind to blow straight through rather than be met with resistance in encountering a solid structure. Saints had to re-apply for planning permission for the North Stand once this problem had been identified. It's the structure of the roof that means the stadium has to flex. Nothing to do with the grass growing.

Quote ="The Chair Maker"Check out this pic showing what Leicester citys stadium is like at the rear www.flickr.com/photos/ryanhubbard/3077344768/ Wonder if Saints will do something like this and put big sponsors adverts between the posts'" If the current build is pretty much what the 3 stands will look like then it'll look really weird in comparison to the South Stand. It looks unfinished, so at the moment I'm a bit disappointed about this. That finish at Leicester looks a bit strange seeing the skeleton of the ground. Still, I suppose we should be grateful to be moving to a new ground and hopefully when it's complete in late October it'll look OK.

Quote ="The Chair Maker"Check out this pic showing what Leicester citys stadium is like at the rear www.flickr.com/photos/ryanhubbard/3077344768/ Wonder if Saints will do something like this and put big sponsors adverts between the posts'" If the current build is pretty much what the 3 stands will look like then it'll look really weird in comparison to the South Stand. It looks unfinished, so at the moment I'm a bit disappointed about this. That finish at Leicester looks a bit strange seeing the skeleton of the ground. Still, I suppose we should be grateful to be moving to a new ground and hopefully when it's complete in late October it'll look OK.

The claims that it's how they intended it are wrong. On both the glossy 'artists impression' shots and the internal fly arounds they had up the whole ground was enclosed.

I thought that would add to the atmosphere as the sound would bounce around. But now with both ends effectively making it a super expensive wind tunnel it's going to be incredibly hard to make the noise from the end stands heard and it's also going to be bloody freezing as an arctic blizzard will be blowing through the ground until the few weeks in July when it's nice.

If it's a bit more money they need, get it advertised. "Help finish the ground properly" bucket-tastic. Local businesses would help, supporters would help, Tesco would help no doubt. The new ground name sponsor would help no doubt.

I wonder if these Wigan workers at the ground will be as clever at looking for a new job? viewtopic.php?f=28&t=504960&start=105

I wonder if these Wigan workers at the ground will be as clever at looking for a new job? viewtopic.php?f=28&t=504960&start=105

Quote ="roader"I wonder if these Wigan workers at the ground will be as clever at looking for a new job? viewtopic.php?f=28&t=504960&start=105'" Yeah, cos they're really going to get sacked for that.

Quote ="roader"I wonder if these Wigan workers at the ground will be as clever at looking for a new job? viewtopic.php?f=28&t=504960&start=105'" Yeah, cos they're really going to get sacked for that.

We don't know what they have done and no matter how trivial I wouldn't want our brand new multi million pound stadium being defaced with anything remotely connected with them.

Hey there! long time reader - first time poster! just wanted to say a big thank you to all those good folk who have taken the time and effort to post pics on here. always good to see the stadium progressing so nicely ( enclosed or not! ). really looking forward to the first match, as no doubt you all are to!! anyway thats my first post done! feel free to mark it out of 10. COYS!!

What happened you to trying to tell me how beautiful your new stadium looked

bored today so decided to look on Saints website how many tickets we have sold or are still reserved till end of renewal period.
Now its a pity that in the terraces and unreserved seats there isnt a countdown counter saying 200 spaces remaining, then 150 spaces remaining as more tickets get sold. As a result you dont know what the sales are like in these areas.

I have therefore been limited to looking at reserved seating. From this i have made the following approximate calculations.

The North stand reserved seating has a capacity of 2745, only 275 spaces remain onsold leaving currently a potential 2470 season ticket holder in blocks C through to G

The South stand reserved sections are showing 720 sales in total for blocks CDEGHI

This gives us 3190 potential ordinary season ticket holders so far in the North and South stand reserved seating.
This does not include West stand terrace season ticket holders, nor North stand unreserved seating or South stand family seating ticket holders. Nor for that matter the corporate season ticket holders.
I therefore think its not unreasonable to think that we are likely to have at present between 5000 and 6000 season ticket holders pledged for the new stadium.

This weekends pics

The wall of red continues to grow













you can see the internal walls and doorways through the glass windows



East stand showing the completed blockwork. Externally this stand is pretty much complete now, just need turnstyles and exit doors fitting.



East stand turnstyle block



Side on view of the East stand



The corner of the East and North stands showing completed blockwork and the gap were gates will be fitted.
Note the man moving the pitch, and the concreted pitch side concourse.

CM I don't no what you think.We have people moaning about it.I think it looks fabulous.Put seats in it and finish the car parks and it will look 10 times better than the cardboard box style warrington stadium

Part 2

Moving onto the North stand the blockwork here looks close to completion Only the North Western side of the stand has any scaffolding left up





Turnstyle entrance for the North Stand



Peering into the North stand, you can see through a vomitory were they have concreted from the internal concourse to the pitch side concourse. There looks to be a slope downwards from the pitch side, to the back of the stand.



Disabled toilet can also be seen through the scaffolding




looking up to the north stand roof, Neon lighting tubes can be seen in line with the Vomitories and walkways to them. The green shimmer is the roof reflecting the grass.



Moving onto the west stand we can see the completed blockwork. Note the unusual yellow reflection from the roof.



This pitch shot of the man mowing gives an indication of whats causing the yellow reflection. In the background in front of the West Terrace you can see wooden molds for the concrete concourse. The reflected yellow will be the plastic groundsheet on which the concrete is poured



Huge air con pipes were stacked up outside the Tesco main gate



A shot of Tesco's and the path built for the new footbridge



The view from the footpath to the piling rig



Finally two more shots of the main south stand

Some people like to do nothing but moan. The same people slagging the new stadium off now are probably the same doubting Thomas's who were saying it would never get built.

My only real criticism of the stands other than the South stand is the lack of colour, when compared to that stand. However whats to stop the East and West stands getting a lick of paint put on them before stadium opening day, to brighten them up.

With the backs of the stands being open to the air, this will make for a beer garden like feel on a warm summers day, rather than being stuck inside a dark concrete box.

On cold and wet days, the high 4 meter wall, combined with the large overhang of the roofline, will keep the concourses dry and sheltered from the worst of the weather to a greater extent than that afforded the pitch side terracing.

the problem is that north east and west corners of the stadium have very little roof over-hang, cladding the north stand will cure the problem for those seated in the north east and west corners of that stand, the adjacent corners in the east and west stand wont be so lucky if the wind is blowing the wrong way.

apart from that the stadium is fantastic.

I wouldn't worry about the Wigan 'souvenirs', you can leave some in Wigan Athletics stadium to get them back.