Craven Cottage – changing the skyline by Fergus Briston, Hampton School

Craven Cottage is the residence of London’s oldest soccer membership, Fulham. The stadium sits proudly on the financial institution of the River Thames, adjoining to Bishops Park and with a birds eye view of a shocking a part of South West London.

The Premier League facet are presently in the center of increasing the stand nearest to the river in an £80 million deal, growing the capability of followers from 25,700 to 29,600. This growth of the new stand is an opportunity not solely to reinforce the expertise for its supporters but in addition to contribute to and work together with the Thames riverside. The intention is to rework the web site right into a world class leisure vacation spot for supporters, residents and guests to get pleasure from. It will embrace eating places, cafes and bars in addition to flats from floor flooring to fourth flooring and a brand new river walkway.

Joel, a life lengthy Fulham fan, commented, ‘every week, I watch the progress and I can’t wait to see the state of the artwork completed product. 

The best structural and engineering problem on this venture pertains to the constraints of the web site, with the new stand hemmed in by the river, the pitch and the two present stands. It is rumoured that the Fulham proprietor, Shahid Khan has paid for a licence price £5 million, permitting the membership to maneuver the earlier river wall 9 metres additional into the Thames, so as to end the growth.

Khan acknowledged, ‘Make no mistake, the Riverside growth can be a location like no different, an actual sport changer for Fulham soccer membership, our neighbourhood, and all of London.’ The billionaire businessman and likewise proprietor of NFL facet, Jacksonville Jaguars, additionally went onto say that ‘the new Riverside stand will characterize a serious stride ahead in making certain that Fulham will function efficiently and correctly, proper right here at Craven Cottage the place it has since 1986 and for generations to return.’

Prior to the pandemic, the followers have been greeted with the ongoing work on the web site, with the stand demolished. Supporters may watch on with the growth on a weekly foundation – builders have been even engaged on the stand as watches have been in-play. Now the solely noise coming from the floor is drilling and welding and sadly not the clamorous cacophony of the Fulham Loyal, considered one of the few benefits of lockdown has been that the tempo of constructing works has accelerated. With no necessities to arrange for match days, satirically, this has general benefited the venture.

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