‘The Foxes’ grand stand plans unfolded

Image: Leicester City FC

The Premier League team Leicester City F.C.’s (UK) grand plans for the expansion of their residence – the King Power Stadium – have been revealed in detail after their application to the Leicester City Council was published.

The ‘LeicestershireLive’ stated that the club confirmed their planning application had been submitted at the end of last month, and those documents have now been released, with thousands of pages of documents showing off the scope of the new East Stand and the development to the surrounding area.

The Leicester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of England’s football league system, and plays its home matches at the King Power Stadium.

The King Power Stadium is a football stadium in Leicester, England (UK). It has been the home stadium of the Premier League side Leicester City since 2002, and was the stage as the club were crowned Premier League champions in 2016. The all-seater stadium has a capacity of 32,261, and is the 20^th largest football ground in England.

The ‘LeicestershireLive’ further stated that the hybrid application goes into detail on the new stand, which will take the capacity of the City’s ground up to 40,000 spectators, while has more broad notes on the planned builds around the site, including the indoor arena, hotel, residential tower, and a new club store.

One of the big revelations of the application is the expansion of both the North and South sides of the stadium as part of the renovations to the ground.

As well as building a brand new East Stand, which eventually will sit on top of the existing set of seats, construction work will wrap around the two ends of the stadium.

While no extra seats will be added, the concourses on both sides will be increased significantly in size.

In the plans, produced with the help of architectural firms KSS and Gillespies, it says, “The North, East and South existing concourses all fall beneath the current recommended concourse density standards. The proposed expansion is seen as an ideal opportunity to upgrade and improve the standards for these concourses. The expansion of these concourses do not increase capacity but provide enhanced comfort level for existing fans.”

The designs also gave more details on the seating arrangements in the new East Stand, with the new top tier to feature circa 8,300 general admission supporters.

The lower tier, which is formed by the existing East Stand, will be reconfigured to include new hospitality seating.

The proposals show there will be 7,222 general admission seats, 800 premium general admission seats, 1,390 hospitality seats, and 206 loge seats, which are luxury, private, box-style seats.

The new East Stand will have five levels within it, starting on the ground level, where general admission spectators will make their way through the turnstiles, and that will house a new fan bar.

Level 1 will have a lounge for premium general admission ticket holders, while Level 2 will have a kitchen. On Level 3, there will be lounges for hospitality ticket holders, with views over the pitch and over the fan zone outside the stadium. There will also be a sensory room for people with sensory-processing issues and their families.

Level 4 will have a dedicated concourse to general admission fans in the new upper tier of the stand.

The City is hoping to receive the green light on the planning application from early next year so that they can begin work on construction in the Spring.

They have already filed for permission over enabling works, and the go-ahead on those is expected sooner, which will allow work on the site to begin with the demolition of the National Grid building early next year.

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