Work begins to upgrade Ipswich Town stadium

Work is under way to upgrade part of a football stadium following the club's promotion to the Premier League.

Ipswich Town is making improvements to its stadium on Portman Road which are estimated to cost "several million pounds".

One of a series of projects already under way is work to add executive boxes to the West Stand.

That is expected to be completed by mid-August.

Other plans under way include creating safe-standing areas in the Cobbold Stand, upgrading floodlights and creating a new television studio above the control room at Portman Road.

More gantries for TV cameras are being added, while the away allocation will also be extended from about 2,000 to 3,000 to comply with Premier League rules.

This will see about 750 Cobbold Stand season ticket holders relocated to new seats elsewhere in the stadium.

Ipswich Town Foundation, which delivers a range of sporting activities for the local community, said the work on the executive boxes would mean the pitch layout on the astro pitch next to the West Stand would be reduced "very slightly".

A walkway is also set to be marked out so spectators can access the hard standing area beyond the hospitality entrance behind West Stand, the Foundation said.

The foundation added it would "endeavour to ensure that disruption to our sessions is minimised as much as possible".

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