The Kent CCC St Lawrence Ground is going to be redeveloped, in a £20 million deal with a new hotel and totally redevelopment of the ground.

Kent are seeking to secure test match status, although with the Rosebowl, Riverside, Sophia Gardens and massive redevelopments planned at both Headingley and Old Trafford, the test match circuit is becoming quite crowded. Nottingham are also planning to build a new stand at Trent Bridge and other county grounds are also the subject of investment.

The new development aims to generate more money for Kent through the hotel, gym, conference centre and other facilities. Also according to the annual report the county aims to attract international test match cricket to the St Lawrence Ground.

Details of the new hotel which starts construction shortly at the St Lawrence Ground at Canterbury, Kent.

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0500business/businessnews/tm_objectid=17545839&method=full&siteid=50081&headline=closegate-bowls-along-name_page.html

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/cricket/article.asp?article_id=25488&startrecord=12

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/images/news/25488_0_l.jpg

Introducing the plans, designed by Canterbury-based architect Andrew Clague, Kent chairman Carl Openshaw said 11 other counties were in the process of re-modelling their grounds.

He said: "County cricket alone no longer generates sufficient income to enable us to field a team capable of competing at the level that we and our members expect."

Kents Cricket Academy

http://www.kentcricketacademy.co.uk/images/pic_academy.jpg

excellent stuff, the better the grounds the better it is for everyone. I like the fact that Kent will be able to make money out of this re the hotel etc.

Oooh, does anybody have any details about the new stand at Trent Bridge (my favourite Test ground)...?

Trent Bridges new stand is in the early stages but they plan to increase capacity from 15,400 to around 17,500.

Trent Bridge has the smallest capacity of the Test Match Grounds and the way things are progressing you may well need 20,000 + to host future test matches - so Nottingham are going to have to increase their capacity dramatically.

I heard a rumour that Notts are to redevelop the west wing stand as it has the room behind it. I think they could also add a front section to the new Fox road stand as the first row in that stand is quite high above the ground, you could probably add another 5 row of seats to that stand.

I heard a rumour that Notts are to redevelop the west wing stand as it has the room behind it. I think they could also add a front section to the new Fox road stand as the first row in that stand is quite high above the ground, you could probably add another 5 row of seats to that stand.

It's pretty self-evident that the west side of the ground is going to be developed next :).

Also, the Fox Road stand has been built the way it has so that it didn't impinge on the car park (which I think belongs to the council). There's no room between it and the boundary.

If you actually knew the ground well you would know that the west wing is the name of one of the three stands on the west side of the ground. This is the only stand to be redeveloped as there is no room behind the parr stand (due to road) and the william clarke stand will not be redeveloped as the Trent Bridge Inn sits behind it with little extra room.

With regards to the fox road stand there is room between the front tier and the boundary for at least an extra four rows seating just check the 360 degrees view from the BBC zoom in from no.10 onto the fox road stand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/360/sport/clubs/notts_county_cricket_club/index.shtml

If you actually knew the ground well you would know that the west wing is the name of one of the three stands on the west side of the ground. This is the only stand to be redeveloped as there is no room behind the parr stand (due to road) and the william clarke stand will not be redeveloped as the Trent Bridge Inn sits behind it with little extra room.

Actually, the William Clarke Stand has by far the most scope for expansion, since it's the furthest by far from the centre of the square (and doesn't even face straight at it). The extra space this affords the playing area has historically been used for nets, but if NCCC did as most other counties do and used wickets at the extremities of the square for net practice before Tests, a much, much larger stand could be built...

With regards to the fox road stand there is room between the front tier and the boundary for at least an extra four rows seating just check the 360 degrees view from the BBC zoom in from no.10 onto the fox road stand.

Yes there is room between the front of the stand and the boundary, but the stand can't be expanded into this space because it's needed for crowd circulation. Because of the car park the stand had to be built as a "front-loader" rather than having a concourse beneath it and vomitories leading to the seating area - this meant that there had to be a concourse in front of the stand big enough for the crowds to circulate.

Some news today of the new stand at Trent Bridge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/nottinghamshire/6157630.stm

Great news, though I'd like to see a decent rendering rather than that Toytown-style graphic :)

Great news seems i was right, although would have preffered the new capacity to be 20,000 minimum

There will still be scope for a fair bit of expansion by replacing the William Clarke Stand...

Some news today of the new stand at Trent Bridge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/nottinghamshire/6157630.stm

Does the video on the BBC page work for anybody else? :(

There's another tantalisingly uninformative picture at http://www.nottsccc.co.uk/news.cfm?idNews=233

Any news on the new Main stand at Headingley that joins with the rugby side?

There's another tantalisingly uninformative picture at http://www.nottsccc.co.uk/news.cfm?idNews=233

I noticed that, lets have the tinyiest picture ever so no one can see this wonderful new stand.

and the bbc link didn't work for me either. Ahhh.

Lords are going to refurbish the mound stand and are looking for ways to increase capacity.

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/266836.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Lord's set for £20 million redevelopment
The MCC, the owners of Lord's, have announced plans to spend up to £20 million to refurbish the Mound Stand and install state-of-the-art scoreboards and replay screens.

More than £50m has been spent on refurbishing the venue since 1987, including the addition of a new media centre and indoor cricket school. The Grandstand, the Compton and Edrich Stands and the Mound Stand have all been knocked down and rebuilt in that time. The award-winning canopy roof on the Mound Stand was only replaced last winter.


The club will finance the redevelopment by issuing debentures which will run from 2007 to 2014. These will cost between £8000 and 12,000.

Although the scoreboards are relatively new, they have already been left behind by technological advances, and the new board installed at The Oval is superior in every regard. The MCC hopes to have the replacements, which will cost almost £3 million, in place in time for the 2008 summer, and work on the Mound Stand should be finished by the time Lord's hosts the Olympic archery competition in 2012.

An MCC spokesman admitted that the club was also looking for ways of increasing the ground's capacity, which is currently around 30,000. While extra seating has been installed in the last decade, the venue used to be able to hold several thousand more seated on the grass. Crowd and safety concerns led to that practice being stopped in the 1980s.


Mound stand
http://www.basestructures.com/nimages/nimageA_12.jpg

Talk about thread drift - I'd be a bit miffed if I were a Kent CCC fan :)

The Rose Bowl is to be given Test Status and plans to take it's capacity above that of the Oval to 23,600, making it second only to Lords. There are also plans for a new golf course, hotel and other facilities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6180590.stm

The Rose Bowl is to be given Test Status and plans to take it's capacity above that of the Oval to 23,600, making it second only to Lords. There are also plans for a new golf course, hotel and other facilities.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6180590.stm

The plans look great too - fully deserving of test status, they'll put a few current test venues in the shade

http://i9.tinypic.com/2u4hg21.jpg

http://i7.tinypic.com/2l8xkqo.jpg

The plans look great too - fully deserving of test status, they'll put a few current test venues in the shade

http://i9.tinypic.com/2u4hg21.jpg

http://i7.tinypic.com/2l8xkqo.jpg

It looks superb. :banana:

Only wish the England cricket team would get their act together. :ohno:

wow thats a superb venue..

Wonder how the Welsh are getting on with the Sophia Gardens
Redvelopment??????

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/61900/61929.jpg