15 / 72
www.irishfa.com
13
as their base just prior to competing at Euro 96 in
England.
The next major works at the ground involved an
extension to the South Stand – adding 1,350 seats
– and 400 bucket-type seats replacing the bench
seats in the Railway Stand.
The extended South Stand was first used for a
Northern Ireland v Albania match in September
1992, while the official opening took place at a
Northern Ireland v Spain match the following
month.
The other major building project of the 1990s was
the construction of a new Kop Stand. The £2m
4,000-seat stand opened in July 1997 when Linfield
faced Liverpool in a friendly.
The new millennium sparked plenty of debate about
Windsor Park’s suitability for international football
going forward.
In 2001 an advisory panel chaired by former
Northern Ireland international Billy Hamilton called
for the creation of a National Stadium. It echoed
a previous recommendation made by a National
Stadium Working Group set up under the auspices
of the Sports Council in 1999.
The Sports Minister at the time, Michael
McGimpsey, rejected the national stadium idea
on the grounds of cost, however by 2005 the UK
Government was warming to the idea but proposed
a 30,000-seater stadium for football, GAA and rugby
on the site of the old Maze Prison rather than a pure
football stadium.
As the debate over a multi-sport stadium at the
Maze raged, Windsor Park was starting to show
signs of wear and tear. Severe weather damaged
part of the roof of the North Stand at Christmas
2006, while in March 2007 the Railway Stand was
barred from future use following a Health and
Safety Executive/Fire Authority assessment.
Then Sports Minister Gregory Campbell kicked the
Maze Stadium plan into touch in 2009, saying it did
not enjoy sufficient political support. He proposed
he would instead help the Irish FA, Ulster Rugby and
the GAA to develop solutions to their stadia needs.
New safety requirements kicked in during 2010
and the knock-on effect was a reduced capacity
in the South Stand at Windsor Park as well as the
provision of temporary seating for international
matches.
In March 2011 the Northern Ireland Assembly
announced a funding package for the
redevelopment of Northern Ireland’s three main
sporting venues and around £30m was made
available to the Irish FA to upgrade Windsor Park.
A Project Manager – Geoff Patterson – was
appointed to oversee the stadium project and by
early 2012 a design team, featuring architects,
engineers, quantity surveyors and so on, was in
place.
The planning consultation process began in the
early part of 2012 and planning approval for the
redevelopment of the stadium was granted later
that year.
Negotiations with Linfield over the lease of the
stadium ran parallel with the planning consultation.
Eventually a deal was hammered out. The Irish FA
agreed to develop and lease the stadium for 51
years.
The start of building work on the project was
delayed by a judicial review. It had been due to
begin in September 2013. However, there was a
successful outcome to the JR which meant building
could get under way in May 2014.
Everything was going smoothly until March 2015
when a structural failure meant the Kop (West)
Stand had to be demolished. The outcome was that
the stadium redevelopment project was extended
to the creation of three new stands rather than the
proposed two - and overall cost rose to £38 million.
Now, 29 months later and with many snags ironed
out along the way, the stadium is fully prepared and
ready for action.
Acknowledgement: books by Joe Cassells and the
late Dr Malcolm Brodie MBE were among the research
documents used in the compilation of this article.
Pictures by Press Eye and Pacemaker
Construction work continues at the
stadium (February 2016)
The new West Stand takes shape
towards the end of last year.