
The John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield is such an important part of the UK’s heritage it should become a listed building.
So says the 20th Century Society which has the stadium on a list of 10 iconic buildings constructed 30 years ago that are well worth granting the special status to as all are of ‘special architectural and historic interest.’
The stadium is the only one on the list in Yorkshire and one of only two in the north of England.
The 20th Century Society says the stadium’s distinctive design – which ultimately led to the design for the new Wembley Stadium – ‘quietly changed sports architecture forever.’
It states: “As soccer fever gripped the USA at the FIFA World Cup 1994, closer to home Huddersfield Town FC’s elegant yet groundbreaking new Kirklees Stadium scooped the Royal Institute of British Architects Building of the Year Award 1995 – the only stadium ever to do so – and quietly changed sports architecture forever.
“Its curved ‘banana’ trusses fully supported the weight of the roof without the need for supporting columns, offering fans uninterrupted views from every seat for the first time. Crucially, the design was also in full compliance with the new legislation of the Taylor Report, published in the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.”
The lead designer was Rod Sheard from global architects Populous and on their website, site architect for the stadium project, Dale Jennins, says: “Before this project I don’t think big-name architects would have been interested in designing stadiums. They were seen as just these crinkly tin sheds built for containing people but the John Smith’s changed all of that.”
Rod went on to design the Bolton FC Stadium and then Wembley and a section on the Populous website about the Huddersfield stadium says: “The John Smith’s Stadium broke all the conventions of a football stadium as a cold, unwelcoming building offering little more than a plastic cup of tea and a pie on a dingy corridor.
“It was a deliberate policy of Populous’ interior design team to use a variety of vibrant colours throughout the building. Where other architects may have used solid walls around the lifts and stairs, Populous used glass blocks, trimmed in the blue and white of the town’s football colours, to offer visibility and uplift.”
The driving force behind the new stadium was Huddersfield Town chairman in the early 1990s, Graham Leslie, who Rod Sheard describes in his book, Sports Architecture, as “a man of vision.”
With all proceeds going to the Huddersfield charity Making Waves, which supports the Waves day centre in Slaithwaite for adults with learning and/or physical disabilities, Graham shares the inside story about the stadium in his recently published fundraising autobiography, Ahead Of The Curve, which was partially inspired by the stadium’s banana trusses.
Graham, who became founding chairman of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd, said: “The old Leeds Road ground was literally falling apart with the Cowshed in such a poor state it was closed for fans’ safety as the roof needed urgent repairs costing £10,000, but the club couldn’t afford to fix it.
“The old ground could never have been transformed into an all-seater stadium so it had to be demolished and replaced by a new one.
“A lot of people didn’t agree with me at the time and it was tough going but as soon as it opened in 1994 it instantly doubled the number of people watching Town and the club has never looked back. I know the new American owners were so impressed with it they have now invested in the building 30 years on.
“My only brief to Rod was that it shouldn’t look like a box as all stadiums just looked like boring, uninspired boxes at the time. I drew a heart on the map where the stadium was going to be, Rod stared at it and instantly understood that the stadium had to be something very different, something right at the heart of the community.
“It was different, it still is different and it would be a wonderful accolade for all those involved in thinking ahead of their time if it now becomes a listed building.”
The criteria for listing buildings are set by the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport with Historic England providing detailed guidance and carrying out research on each specific case.
Buildings constructed less than 30 years ago are not usually considered eligible because they have yet to stand the test of time but when a building reaches this key age threshold there’s currently no mechanism to proactively review or assess its heritage value until it comes under threat of demolition or harmful alteration.
To remedy this, the 20th Century Society has launched its Coming of Age campaign by identifying 10 outstanding buildings across the country that opened in 1994, recommending they be added to the National Heritage List.
The initiative is set to become an annual fixture with the society’s 2025 Coming of Age list highlighting the best buildings of 1995, and so on.
The 20th Century Society says: “Given that around 30 years after construction is often the point at which buildings are likely to require their first major refurbishment, any listing designation at this point would provide a timely opportunity to ensure that such works recognise and respond to what makes a building significant. Encouraging retrofit with the long-term, sustainable future as a key objective.”
Coincidentally, the John Smith’s Stadium has undergone a major renovation project this summer and a great new bar for fans called H Town has just opened.
The stadium’s first 1994/95 season saw the Terriers promoted out of the third tier of English football and, hopefully, history can now repeat itself this season with Town promoted back up to the Championship.