Inside Nottingham Forests £130MILLION stadium upgrade set to eclipse Chelsea

NOTTINGHAM FOREST are back playing European football for the first time in 30 years.

And very soon they could undergo a stunning stadium expansion update to put it among the biggest and best grounds in the land.

Forest ripped up initial plans and in September 2025 submitted even grander designs for their beloved, historic home, the City Ground.

But what are they planning to do, when will it be done and how much will it cost?

THE CITY GROUND STORY

Nottingham Forest moved into the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent in September 1898 – and it has seen plenty of highs and lows over the last 127 years.

On the pitch, Forest have gone from league titles and European champions under Brian Clough to 23 years outside of the top flight before their recent resurgence.

But off it, the City Ground is steeped in folklore.

It flooded in 1947 when the Trent burst its banks, then disaster struck in 1968 when the newly-rebuilt main stand caught fire during a match against Leeds.

Thankfully, there were no injuries or casualties despite a 31,126 attendance but the stand had to be rebuilt yet again – and the club were forced into another temporary relocation to rivals Notts County’s Meadow Lane.

On the opposite side, the biggest stand, now called the Brian Clough Stand, was opened in 1980.

Work on the Bridgford Stand started in 1992, including a funny-shaped roof to allow sunlight to reach neighbours’ houses.

And the last major updates saw the Trend End redeveloped in time to host matches at Euro 96, with the capacity now officially standing at 30,404 for the 2025-26 Premier League season.

WHY NOW?

Ultimately, an update to the City Ground is long overdue.

Forest have made small tweaks in recent years – giant LED screens, improved dressing rooms and dugouts and the ‘shipping container’ stand added into one corner following promotion back to the Premier League.

But the club have wanted to improve their stadium for nearly 20 years.

After Brian Clough threatened to quit if Forest approved Nottingham City Council’s proposal to move into a 45,000-seater new stadium WITH rivals County in 1991, various plans have been put forward by Forest themselves.

No fewer than THREE new stadium suggestions were knocked back in 2007, 2008 and 2009 – the middle one a £100million, 50,000 “super stadium” which would have hosted 2018 World Cup matches if England’s bid was successful.

But the takeover by Evangelos Marinakis in 2017 reignited hopes to modernise the City Ground.

The Greek businessman’s arrival has coincided with an upturn in fortunes on the pitch, too, with Forest ending their long wait for top-flight football in 2022 and then enjoying a superb 2024-25 season under Nuno Espirito Santo to qualify for Europe.

The Champions League was a dream for a while, then Forest seemed to have to settle for the Conference League before controversially replacing Crystal Palace in the Europa League.

But with European football, sell-out crowds week-in week-out and a smaller, dated stadium seeing the club miss out on extra cash, Marinakis knows this is an opportunity he and Forest cannot afford to squander.

WHAT ARE THEY PLANNING?

So, what are Forest planning to do?

Well, initial expansion plans were revealed in 2019 for a new 10,000-seater Peter Taylor Stand – the oldest of the four stands – plus an extra 3,000 seats in the Bridgford Stand, drafted up by architects Benoy.

Work was due to start at the end of the 2019-20 season… until Covid struck.

Some tweaks were made and a long back-and-forth between the club and the council – technically their landlords – followed, to the point that Marinakis eyed up a move to a new 50,000 stadium six miles away from Nottingham in Toton.

In June 2025, though, Rushcliffe Borough Council approved Forest’s plans for the 10,000-seat, 38m-tall new Peter Taylor Stand with planning permission given to increase the capacity to 35,000.

However, in September, Forest recruited new architects, the KSS Group, to work alongside Marinakis’ trusted man Konstantinos Chatzimanolis and submitted their bigger and better plans.

Those plans will see a whopping 15,000-seater epic Peter Taylor Stand – towering at a staggering 58m tall.

That is 5,000 more and 50 per cent bigger than the initial plans and would make it one of the most impressive stands in English football – dwarfing Chelsea’s main stand by 1,500 seats.

Of course, as well as the extra seats, that would also create plenty more space for additional executive boxes, hospitality suites, new changing rooms and fitness areas and an all-round better matchday experience for fans and players alike compared to the dated current offering.

Crucially, Forest want to build the new structure behind the existing old stand – just like KSS did for Anfield – so that the City Ground’s capacity is not compromised during construction, limiting the impact on fans and finances.

There are also hopes to fill in the corners on either side of the Trent End, adding an extra 5,000 seats.

And while the final figure has not been confirmed just yet, the entire project would see the City Ground’s capacity skyrocket to between 43,000 and 45,000.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

Forest’s previous plans were due to get underway in 2026 – more than six years after they were first submitted.

But the revisions will need to be granted planning permission from the council before the club have the green light to get anything started.

If it comes through, work could in theory begin towards the end of the current season.

The new stand would likely take 18 months to build and be opened in phases, starting with the bottom tier.

But more realistically, the full project may not be done until the late 2020s, depending on approval and funding.

The timescales will be helped by the fact that a 12-storey 170-apartment block next to the developed new stand has been scrapped in the updated plans.

Crucially, though, Forest seem set to plough on regardless of what division they are playing in.

Given they have flirted with relegation and have endured a nightmare start to the current season, that could see the new stand open when Forest are no longer a Premier League team.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

Unsurprisingly, the City Ground renovation will not come cheap – especially with top dogs KSS hired as architects.

The company, based off Oxford Street in London, have been the brains behind some of football’s biggest developments in recent years including Anfield’s expansion, Crystal Palace’s proposed new main stand and the stunning new training grounds at Leicester and Liverpool.

The previous project was estimated to cost £94million.

But with the upscale of the drawings and inflation in construction fees over the last few years, the figure now being touted is a huge £130m.

As owner, Marinakis will be the one tasked with finding those funds – although Forest fans will be relieved to know spending on stadium improvements does not get included in PSR calculations.

IS IT WORTH IT?

In short: it should be.

From a business perspective, it is a no-brainer.

A bigger stadium with improved facilities means more fans, more spending and more matchday revenue – aka more money.

But from a fan perspective, Forest must ensure they do not lose their famous acoustics and intimacy at the City Ground which creates a phenomenal atmosphere, making the ground a truly intimidating home fortress.

West Ham may have a more modern stadium now – but have lost much of their Upton Park charm and soul.

Forest cannot afford to make a similar mistake – albeit updating the existing stadium is very different from building a completely new ground.

Also, there is a risk of upsetting the local community with the City Ground in a residential area.

So the long building work followed by more fans and therefore more road and foot traffic will make matchdays even busier.

And should Forest be a regular in Europe, that will be a lot of midweek evenings of disruption.

Finally, it will not go unnoticed among Forest, Derby and Leicester fans if the City Ground becomes the biggest football stadium in the East Midlands.

Currently, Pride Park tops the charts while the Foxes’ plans to increase the King Power would take it up to 40,000 – although those plans appear to be on hold.

Forest, though, would trump both by some distance with 45,000 seats.

WHAT ARE THEIR OTHER FUTURE PLANS?

The redevelopment of the Peter Taylor Stand is the main project.

But as mentioned, filling in the corners of the Trent End is also being explored to boost the capacity by that further 5,000.

Forest are hoping that can be done as part of the same development as the main stand.

Elsewhere, Forest may explore expanding the Bridgford Stand with initial drafts drawn up but shelved for the time being with other areas a priority.

And outside the City Ground, Forest will likely work with the council to improve transport links and community facilities, with a possible fan plaza area.