Craven Cottage is the home of London’s oldest football club, Fulham. The stadium sits proudly on the bank of the River Thames, adjacent to Bishops Park and with a birds eye view of a stunning part of South West London.
The Premier League side are currently in the middle of expanding the stand nearest to the river in an £80 million deal, increasing the capacity of fans from 25,700 to 29,600. This development of the new stand is a chance not only to enhance the experience for its supporters but also to contribute to and interact with the Thames riverside. The aim is to transform the site into a world class leisure destination for supporters, residents and visitors to enjoy. It will include restaurants, cafes and bars as well as apartments from ground floor to fourth floor and a new river walkway.
Joel, a life long Fulham fan, commented, 'each week, I watch the progress and I cannot wait to see the state of the art finished product.
The greatest structural and engineering challenge on this project relates to the constraints of the site, with the new stand hemmed in by the river, the pitch and the two existing stands. It is rumoured that the Fulham owner, Shahid Khan has paid for a licence worth £5 million, allowing the club to move the previous river wall nine metres further into the Thames, in order to finish the development.
Khan stated, 'Make no mistake, the Riverside development will be a location like no other, a real game changer for Fulham football club, our neighbourhood, and all of London.’ The billionaire businessman and also owner of NFL side, Jacksonville Jaguars, also went onto say that ‘the new Riverside stand will represent a major stride forward in ensuring that Fulham will operate successfully and properly, right here at Craven Cottage where it has since 1986 and for generations to come.'
Prior to the pandemic, the fans were greeted with the ongoing work on the site, with the stand demolished. Supporters could watch on with the development on a weekly basis – builders were even working on the stand as watches were in-play. Now the only noise coming from the ground is drilling and welding and sadly not the clamorous cacophony of the Fulham Loyal, one of the few advantages of lockdown has been that the pace of building works has accelerated. With no requirements to prepare for match days, ironically, this has overall benefited the project.
