Work gets under way on Luton Town's £10m upgrade of Kenilworth Road after Premier League promotion
Work has begun to make Luton Town's stadium meet Premier League requirements just days after the club's Championship play-off final win.
The Hatters beat Coventry City 6-5 on penalties at Wembley on Saturday to earn promotion to the Premier League for the first time.
But the club's stadium at Kenilworth Road does not meet the league's requirements for broadcast specifications.
Luton's chief executive Gary Sweet confirmed that £10m worth of work has started to bring the stadium up to the required standards before the Premier League starts in 12 weeks.
Speaking during the team's celebration parade in the town on Bank Holiday Monday, Sweet said: "The boxes got stripped out yesterday. We are on the way."
Diggers have already been brought in to improve the Bobbers Stand and the chief executive added work would properly start on Tuesday.
The majority of the Bobbers Stand has to be rebuilt to comply with requirements on media facilities and camera positioning for matches.
Kenilworth Road's capacity is 10,356 - above the Premier League's minimum requirements of 5,000 - but the stadium falls shy of the league's broadcasting and facility requirements.
It was built in 1905 and will become the smallest ground in the 2023/24 season, just behind Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium, which holds 11,379.
The football ground has not undergone any major developments since the conversion of the Kenilworth Stand in 2005 and Luton Town's owners have said it would cost approximately £10m for the upgrade.
It is a direct neighbour to people's homes and away fans have to enter the Oak Road end of the ground on a row of terraced houses.
The club has its sights set on a new area of Luton for its stadium and in 2015 it identified the Power Court site in the town centre as their preferred location.
But development has been in limbo, despite planning permission being granted in 2019.
In March, Sweet announced that designs for the new Luton Town stadium had been completed, with the ground set to hold an initial 17,500 spectators.
That work is likely to cost up to £100m, with the club likely to have to wait until the 2026/27 season at the earliest to move into their new ground.
The day before the Championship play-off final, the club unveiled new images of its proposed home at Power Court.
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