Crystal Palace prepare the ground ahead of the redevelopment of Selhurst Park

More than eight years since Crystal Palace were first granted planning permission to redevelop their Selhurst Park stadium, significant work has finally begun.

The project to replace the 102-year-old Main Stand and make other improvements to the stadium has dragged on and on since it was first unveiled in 2017 and planning permission was granted in principle in 2018. Costs have risen sharply in the intervening years, with various design tweaks made along the way.

Enabling works began in 2024, with actual construction anticipated last summer only to be delayed. But now, supporters are seeing tangible progress. The start of construction is not far away.

Here, The Athletic looks at where the process has reached.

What is happening at Selhurst?

At long last, the demolition of six houses in Wooderson Close, the residential road in the shadow of Selhurst Park, has begun.

Palace have begun to knock down the properties — five council-owned and one privately — with a sign put up saying there will be no pedestrian access through the main entrance gates to Selhurst Park off Holmesdale Road as a result of “planned construction work”.

Demolition of the six houses in Wooderson Close has begun ahead of the new Main Stand redevelopment at Selhurst Park pic.twitter.com/Xk6rrgFCmz

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) June 23, 2026

At the time of The Athletic’s visit last week, all but one of the houses had been demolished, creating a line of sight from Wooderson Close to the stadium for the first time since they were built. Residents have long since been relocated, receiving compensation and new homes of the equivalent size elsewhere within the borough of Croydon.

There are also hoardings erected in part of the club’s car park next to Sainsbury’s supermarket, which is where the temporary hospitality building will sit for those who will be affected by the removal of Speroni’s restaurant and other lounges, housed in the Main Stand, in order to maintain the corporate income these provide.

This is the first visible work for the redevelopment, with more cosmetic changes having also been instigated — such as the removal of club offices to the building above the Whitehorse Lane end, which previously hosted the Crystals nightclub.

The demolished houses in Wooderson Close, with the Main Stand on the right (The Athletic)

So is the Main Stand redevelopment actually happening?

It certainly appears so.

Palace have put extensive work into reaching this stage. They have, via outsourced companies, produced detailed information about how the build will look and what the timescale is, and have produced a construction plan.

They submitted a request to Croydon Council for the project to be undertaken in phases for the purpose of spreading the cost of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments rather than having to meet those costs all at once. They had been granted permission in March for some relatively minor design changes and made a request to vary the planning permission to conduct work in phases.

The effort to build temporary hospitality, knock down the Wooderson Close houses, relocate those residents, and the back-and-forth with the council — as well as the costs incurred to date, which will run into the millions — mean there is every reason to believe the stadium will be redeveloped. It would take something catastrophic for this to no longer go ahead.

In any case, the council has safeguards in place to ensure it goes ahead or Palace would have to restore land back to its original state — at this point, something like that feels extremely unlikely.

This work is still technically ‘preliminary’; the actual construction of the new Main Stand will mark the commencement of the project when it comes to planning permission. Some supporters may still be wary until such a time as that begins, but so much has gone into this now that there is no apparent reason why it would not go ahead. The club are committed.

The relocation of the away dressing rooms have been completed, the Holmesdale basement has been drained of the water which had flooded it, and the former Crystals nightclub has been turned into offices.

Replacing the Wooderson Close houses within the borough to ensure no net loss of housing must also be assured before work can actually commence beyond the first-floor height, but in that October 2022 planning committee meeting, chairman Steve Parish said the club was “a very long way down the line” with that. 

This work is the most meaningful yet.

Selhurst Park, with the Main Stand at the bottom (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

How did we get to this point?

The original plan was for the stadium to be open by 2021, but the timescale has shifted so many times.

It has been eight years since Palace were first granted planning permission in principle, but after securing the Section 106 (S106) agreement — a legal framework that requires developers to fund community improvements — they did not sign it and instead preferred to focus on the construction of their £30million ($39.7m) academy training ground in nearby Beckenham.

That project itself has taken a long time to be fully realised, but is now on the cusp of completion.

In 2021, they briefly considered a move back to their original home in Crystal Palace Park, but the idea was disregarded quickly.

Instead, they later refocused efforts back on the Selhurst redevelopment. Croydon Council’s planning committee voted unanimously to grant planning permission once again in October 2022 after changes to the London Plan — which determines how the UK’s capital as a whole will develop over the next 20 to 25 years — made re-application a requirement, and it was formally granted in August 2024. 

Palace later secured the Wooderson Close purchases.

This time, the S106 was signed and they were free to begin work, with preliminary work under way in June that year. An agreement with Sainsbury’s supermarket for the parcel of land required in their car park was reached for several million pounds, The Athletic previously revealed. 

What is the timescale for the build and when will it be complete?

The timeline remains two and a half years. It is being carried out in five construction stages.

The first phase is the work being undertaken currently, with the houses, fanzone and hospitality being removed and the temporary buildings, which previously hosted the away dressing rooms and club offices, also demolished. This was initially going to start in April, though it ended up happening at the end of June.

No above-ground construction work on the Main Stand or Holmesdale will take place during this phase, which has an anticipated completion date of August 2026.

The Main Stand at Selhurst Park, designed by Archibald Leitch, was built in 1924 (Osbourne/Topical Press AgencyHulton Archive/Getty Images)

Phase two is anticipated to take place between September 2026 and September 2027, with the structure taking shape and the cladding and glazing being installed.

The third phase involves the internal structure for the ground floor of the Main Stand, to be undertaken between October 2027 and January 2028, and the fourth phase then commences in February 2028, to run through to August 2028, and concentrates on the middle of the stand. This involves the demolition of the existing Main Stand terrace and roof.

Finally, between September 2028 and January 2029, the third, fourth and fifth floors of the Main Stand will be internally fitted out and work on the Holmesdale — some structural work, together with cladding and glazing — will be completed.

The Main Stand will remain fully open for the entirety of the redevelopment.

What has changed and why is it being done in phases?

In practice, not very much. The plan is largely as it has been since the designs were tweaked and planning permission granted two years ago.

The decision to formally conduct it in two phases is an accounting one. It means Palace are not required to pay the £4million CIL in one transaction. The club argued that this would have made the project commercially unviable and affect cash flow.

Instead, they are able to pay £940,000 when commencing phase three, followed by payments of £1.33m and £1.82m in the following phases.

How much is this all costing?

A lot of money. The Athletic previously reported that costs had risen to over £200m. That is more than double the amount originally expected, with inflation having significantly increased costs due to, in part, the Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Once complete, the expectation is that the redevelopment will increase revenue by around £20m per year.

Are there any other improvements and what will Selhurst look like when it’s done?

Although the focus is on the Main Stand, there are other changes being made. Some small changes, such as a new ticket office, will be implemented in the Lower Holmesdale stand. The Whitehorse Lane end will have new accessible seating with wheelchair spaces, meaning its capacity will be reduced.

There will, however, be a new ‘corner stand’ between the Holmesdale and Arthur Wait.

The existing television gantry situated in the Arthur Wait stand will be removed, with broadcasters switched to the new Main Stand. Some floodlights will be demolished and others in the Whitehorse Lane end will be moved.

Once completed, stadium capacity will rise to 34,259 from its existing 25,486.

Overall, this recent work represents the final preparation before the redevelopment finally looks to begin in earnest.