黑洞社区

Brentford football club is delaying a move out of its Griffin Park home in west London until the end of the 2019/20 season as it awaits completion of its new 17,250-seat ground just over a mile away.

The club, currently lying eighth in the Championship, had been planning to start playing games at the new ground, being built on land adjacent to Kew Bridge railway station, halfway through next season.

With completion originally set for the early part of next year Buckingham Group started building work on the stadium, designed by AFL Architects, four months ago.

But Brentford now says issues around the new stadium鈥檚 construction meant it made more sense to delay the opening and remain at its 12,700 capacity Griffin Park ground where it has been since 1904.

鈥淕iven the complexity of large-scale building works adjacent to railway lines, the need to anticipate the normal delays and problems that inevitably arise in a complicated construction project, and the operational challenges surrounding a mid-season move, our view is that an end-of-season move is best,鈥� the club said in a statement.

Piling works for the foundations for the new stadium was now 90% complete, Brentford said. The first parts of the steel frame were also in place and the laying of sections of terracing for the south stand was 鈥渨ell in hand鈥�.

Brentford FC reviewed its original plans for the stadium in September last year, downscaling the capacity from 20,000 to the new limit of 17,250.

As well nearly a thousand new homes the development includes a new purpose-built location for the club鈥檚 community activities and a public square with shops and cafes.

The homes are being developed by Willmott Dixon鈥檚 Be Living operation, which was bought by EcoWorld International with the Malaysian company snapping up a 70% stake. Willmott Dixon holds a 30% stake in the firm, which has been rebranded EcoWorld London.