Demolition work will start this week on the famous east stand at Swansea’s Vetch Field site if weather conditions allow it.
The north and west stands have already been taken down but some terracing remains and about 30 per cent of the south stand is still in place.
Swansea Council appointed the Cuddy Group to undertake the demolition and landscaping of the site after receiving a £700,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly Government to fund the project.
Work started in February and is scheduled for completion by the end of June.
The Vetch site was initially put out to the marketplace in late 2009 but interest from developers in realising a masterplan prepared by Swansea Council for the land was limited because of the turbulent economic conditions.
This is why Swansea Council’s Cabinet has now backed the revisiting of the masterplan for the site before remarketing the land so a more viable scheme may be presented to developers in a bid to secure redevelopment in future.
Phil Holmes, Swansea Council’s Head of Economic Regeneration and Planning, said: “We’re now about halfway through the demolition and landscaping programme and the project is on schedule.
“We hope this process will help pave the way for regeneration of the site and will lead to a scheme that will benefit the nearby community.
“The Vetch will live long in the memory but the site is in a prime location to provide much-needed affordable housing and green space for this generation and beyond.”
The eastern end of the Vetch was the first part of the ground to be redeveloped when the club started rising through the divisions in the late 1970s.
The town end became home to the east stand that was instantly recognisable because it only extended for about half the length of the pitch behind the goalposts.
A spokesperson for the Cuddy Group said: “We are nine weeks into the demolition and landscaping works. We feel that the works are progressing as programmed and some 60 per cent of the demolition has been completed.”
