Brentford Community Stadium

General

Image gallery

Brentford Community Stadium
Full name	Brentford Community Stadium
Location	166 Lionel Road North, Brentford
Broke ground	25 March 2017
Built	Spring 2018–Summer 2020
Opened	1 September 2020
Tenants	Brentford London Irish
Capacity	17,250
Field dimensions	105 x 68 m
Surface	Desso Grassmaster

Brentford Community Stadium is a stadium in Brentford, West London, that is the home of both Brentford Football Club and London Irish Rugby Club. The stadium has a capacity of 17,250 and is suitable for use for both association football and rugby union matches. The new stadium is at the heart of plans to regenerate the surrounding area, including new homes and commercial opportunities.

Background

In October 2002, following several years of speculation about a possible relocation, the club announced plans to move to a 20,000 capacity stadium near Kew Bridge. This included an ambitious monorail proposal, which was later dropped from the scheme. After several years of uncertainty the project was suddenly brought back to public attention in late 2007 when the club announced that it had secured an option on the site.

This was followed up in February 2008 when a partnership deal with Barratt Homes to develop the site was announced.

London Welsh have suggested they might move in to ground-share the stadium with Brentford.

The club's plan to move to a new community stadium took a massive step forward when, on 28 June 2012, the club bought the 7.6 acre site in Lionel Road, Brentford, from Barratt Homes who had originally acquired the site in January 2008. The club is planning to build a 20,000 capacity stadium on the land in time for the 2016–17 season, with the option of extending to 25,000 seats. In December 2013 Brentford football club was given approval for the new stadium by Hounslow Council with further approval sought and received from the Mayor of London and the government in early 2014.

Attention then shifted to acquiring the remaining land, required for the enabling development of flats, and completing the development agreement. A CPO was approved for the remaining land in the summer of 2014 and although negotiations have continued a number of objections to the CPO has resulted in a further hearing set for September 2015. The development agreement was signed with Wilmott Dixon in Dec 2014. and depending on the result of the CPO appeal work on site is hoped to start before the end of 2015 with a likely completion towards the end of 2017 - likely mid-season.

Location

It is planned to be located on a 7.6 acres (31,000 m2) site off Lionel Road, and adjacent to Kew Bridge railway station. It stands in the middle of a triangle of railway lines, predominantly used for freight. Hounslow Council has been pushing a proposal for an extension of Crossrail to Hounslow via Kew Bridge, using one of these freight lines. The outline document suggested a station could be built to serve the Lionel Road site. The proposal is unlikely to make it into the first phase of the Crossrail project, but might be a later addition to the route.

External links

• Official stadium website