Newcastle United 10,000-seat St James' Park expansion concept images have already emerged

Expanding St James’ Park is a long-term goal for Newcastle with talks taking place throughout 2024 as feasibility studies took place. The club have spoken to the Fan Advisory Board and the council regarding the next steps with a further update expected in the New Year.

According to i News, the club are set to talk with operators of the Tyne and Wear Metro, Nexus, in the New Year. The St James’ Metro Station is located below the Gallowgate End, complicating any potential expansion of the stand.

Expanding St James’ Park is also thwarted by the stadium’s city centre location close to listed buildings and the Leazes Conservation Area. A new state-of-the-art stadium on a different site also remains part of the conversation.

The estimated costs are between £800million and £1billion, while a new stadium is estimated to cost £2 billion to £3billion.

But the Strawberry Place land around the Metro Station and behind the Gallowgate Stand is owned by the club and currently houses the St James’ STACK fanzone, which has planning permission to remain on the site for three years.

The club plans for any new stadium to have a capacity in excess of 60,000, meaning an 8,000+ expansion would be required in order to remain at St James’ Park. Although adding a further 10,000 to the Gallowgate Stand and corners is thought to be possible, it would add significant weight above the Metro Station and pose further logistical challenges in its construction.

While official details have not been made public, that hasn’t stopped concept designers from sharing their takes on what a proposed expansion or stadium rebuild could look like.

In April, stadium concept designer and 3D animator Damián Bosio proposed three stadium expansion suggestions via his YouTube channel, Bondibot.

One option involves expanding the Gallowgate Stand and Gallowgate West Corner to the same level as the current Milburn and Leazes Stands. It involves building over the Strawberry Place street and onto the land above the St James’ Metro Station.

To the untrained eye, this would be seen as the most feasible option with the club purchasing the Strawberry Place land last year. Though the St James’ STACK is currently situated on the site.

The second option involves raising the St James’ Park playing surface and moving the pitch north west to allow more space to expand the East Stand and Gallowgate Stand. While it will mean losing capacity from the Milburn Stand and Leazes Stand, the design goes on to expand the East Stand and Gallowgate Stands so that all four stands are of a similar height.

This design won’t be viewed as realistic in its current guise due to the properties on Leazes Terrace and the ‘right to light’ easement that gives the landowners a right to receive sunlight on their buildings.

However, advances in technology could allow light to pass through an expanded East Stand and is something that was raised as part of the feasibility study.

A complete stadium rebuild has also been considered nearby Leazes Park. And this is where the most intriguing concept designs come from with a partial deconstruction of St James’ Park and a rebuild next to the current site on Leazes Park. This allows for a new state-of-the-art stadium to be constructed without any major capacity or further expansion restrictions.

However, any construction on the Leazes Conservation Area would likely face significant backlash even if an agreement was to be reached.

Here are images of the concept designs, giving an impression of how an expanded or new St James’ Park could look in the years to come...