Town have submitted plans for further work at Portman Road and areas surrounding the stadium, including improvements to the pitch and new turnstiles.

The club began work on improving the ground last summer with a big screen installed, a new access point in the corner between the Cobbold Stand and the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand and new dugouts.

The plans now submitted for the second phase of work have three principle elements including a new playing surface and undersoil heating.

Town initially hoped to install a Desso pitch last summer but now the new sand-based hybrid surface will be put in place in the close season at the end of this campaign.

Although the pitch is scraped and reseeded each summer, it has required an overhaul costing a seven-figure sum for some years. The last work carried out at foundation level was back in the summer of 1977.

In addition to the new elite-level playing surface, Town will acquire plant and equipment for the provision of irrigation and dealing with surface water. Town will also install a new synthetic pitch perimeter run-off.

The Blues will be relocating the turnstiles at the south-east corner to the rear of the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand where there will also be a new exit, the club having purchased land behind the stand last year, with the existing turnstiles to the east and west of the stand, currently accessed via Portman Road and Constantine Road, to be demolished. The new turnstiles will be fully automated, the first at the ground.

“We are delighted to have submitted these plans,” CEO Mark Ashton told the club site.

“The new pitch reconstruction will provide an elite-level playing surface, therefore giving our playing squads the best chance of success.

“The extensive life span of the new pitch will also aid the club’s typical annual close-season pitch refurbishment schedule, to ensure a quality playing surface year on year.

“Relocating the existing turnstiles that are currently split between Portman Road and Constantine Road will provide a more streamlined entry to Portman Road stadium, further enhancing the matchday experience for our supporters.

“We hope the supporters are excited about the plans, and we look forward to work commencing.”

Photo: Blair Ferguson

Wallingford_Boy added 17:52 - Oct 31 Do we own that little building on the bottom right? If so, need to knock that down and just make a really strong entrance to the ground.
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timetraveler added 17:58 - Oct 31 Think that's the flats etc on the corner of Portman road. From what I can see they are outside the red line showing the land town did purchase. Shame really.
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Runner added 18:02 - Oct 31 Wallingford Boy: That is not a little building, that is a block of luxury flats, that was part of the churchman cigarette factory, offices I think, back in the day.
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Saxonblue74 added 18:08 - Oct 31 Excess of 7 figures for a new pitch? Beggars belief
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PhilTWTD added 18:16 - Oct 31 Saxonblue74 Perhaps not phrased as I meant to! More than a million certainly.
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Westy added 18:26 - Oct 31 All very exciting and good to see after so many years of declining infrastructure at the Club.Things definitely moving in the right direction but obviously take time. Hopefully, this improvement will continue, including, ultimately, redeveloping the Cobbold Stand associated with a successful team playing at a higher level and yet higher crowds. I remember a time, when Portman Road, although never the biggest, was arguably the best kept stadium in the country

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blues1 added 18:31 - Oct 31 Philtwtd. Ashton said at one of the fans forums that the new pitch will cost in excess of £2m.
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bringmeaKuqi added 18:43 - Oct 31 When they eventually develop the former Staples site I think it will make a big difference. I know there's no firm plans, but it would be nice to see a welcoming entrance to the ground there. You would imagine there would be much more scope for a better fan zone, too, and still space for hospitality/ offices or however the club will make money from that site. I have always thought the southwest and southeast corners make the ground look the most dated, compared to how the North Stand has tied things together at the other end. The changing facilities must be in need of a refresh, too.

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blueboy1981 added 19:33 - Oct 31 The Club is, as we all know, a Sleeping Giant Club compared with so many we have been rubbing shoulders with for far too long at yes, Division 3 Level. In fact it's quite embarrassing when you compare us with some, but not all, of the Clubs at this current level. The Crowd proves week on week, Home and Away, where we should be in terms of playing level - and that is not where we are at !! All Good News these Ground Improvements, but personally I'd rather see every penny put into getting out of this awful Division 3 - at long last.

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NthQldITFC added 19:42 - Oct 31 Cool. If the last time foundation level work was carried out was in 1977, I am thinking we can expect to win the FA Cup next year and the Europa League in 2026! We'll probably win the Premier League in 2026 as well because we've got a bigger squad now, and also the FA Cup again that year because Paul Power has retired now, or so I am led to believe.
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OliveR16 added 21:14 - Oct 31 blueboy1981 - the new pitch will indeed help us get out of this level if we haven't already by next season. So these 'pennies' are being spent to get us toward an elite level. A poor surface helps many of the League 1 bus parkers and hoofballers.
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Talbs77 added 21:27 - Oct 31 Fantastic news love what the new owners are doing not too much too soon. Let's hope this season gets us out of this wretched league.
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SlippinJimmyJuan added 22:19 - Oct 31 Very cool, hope the new gate is nice, modern and most importantly accessible.
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gosblue added 22:37 - Oct 31 I'd have thought with the new substitution rules we might have found room for a warm up area. If your putting on 3 or 4 subs in one go it would be much better than just running up and down the line to warm up.
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Bert added 22:46 - Oct 31 Although commercially the old Staples building must carry a price premium, removing it would enable a plaza to be created and give some umph to the location. Possibly relocate the three statues there and make a statement ?
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Dissboyitfc added 08:15 - Nov 1 Great news this! I think you will find that because of the ffp system that exists for EFL clubs we are investing as much as we can on the playing staff!
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Broadhill added 08:51 - Nov 1 All good. But if we fail to go up. None of this really matters. One of the game changer crew said a while back they were in it for around 7 years. Well, if we don't make it up this year, that means a third with them in division 1. Only leaves 4 years, then what?
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Razor added 10:15 - Nov 1 Will the new pitch allow cocerts again in the summer------they were great and if they do I wonder who the first one would be----now let me think!!??
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blues1 added 10:48 - Nov 1 Broomhill. No1 on the gamechanger team has said anything about a time limit to them being here. All they have said is that theyre in it for the long term. How long that actually is, none of us know. Doubt even they do.
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BontyBlue added 10:58 - Nov 1 @Razor hopefully Red Hot Chili Peppers again. Though with volume set to 11.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 11:57 - Nov 1 It would certainly be a dream to have 40,000 crowds in a refurbished PR, having replaced the Cobbold Stand. We have great support, but we need to be a bit realistic. Ipswich is a small town, and although our catchment area is quite large, we can hardly compete demographically/geographically with clubs like Sheffield Wed, Derby, and - dare I say it - our northern neighbours. Naarwich has a larger population in its urban area than Ipswich has and if the ground held that many, that would probably be reflected in the attendance figures. They would probably get 35,000-ish if they were in the PL and doing quite well (may it never happen!). So unless we can persuade a lot more people from Colchester or even Chelmsford etc. to come and watch us, I think our 30,000 capacity is about what we can achieve in the forseeable future. I'd love to be proved wrong.

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ImAbeliever added 16:04 - Nov 1 They may have bigger pop. North of the border but they don't get out much.!
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TeHuia added 03:29 - Nov 2 Norwich may be the larger urban population but Ipswich sits in an area with a larger number of towns around it rather than just carrot fields.
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Runner added 11:30 - Nov 2 Steve ITFC Sweden: I have said it before, take roof off Cobbold Stand & have another tier on top with new roof. 200 seats each row approx x 30 rows approx for extra 6000 seats, all away supporters, that would take care of the 15% we have to give for cup games. The entry point would be a 2 meter area where the railings are now with stairs taking supporters up one level (as like north stand upper stairs) then turnstiles on level one, more stairs to level two for seats, catering, toilets. That would also allow the road to still be used on non match days.

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