Stevenage FC expect to open the new North Stand at the start of next season after the club confirmed that work will restart next week.

The Comet: Demolition of the old North stand at Stevenage FC is completed. Picture: Danny LooDemolition of the old North stand at Stevenage FC is completed. Picture: Danny Loo (Image: Danny Loo Photography 2018)

In a statement on Boro’s website, the club said that UK Power Networks will be switching the power to the newly-installed substation next Friday, February 22.

Work to lay the foundations will then restart the following week, commencing February 25, with steel construction beginning in late March.

If there are no delays, this schedule would see the 1,428 all-seater North Stand open to fans in August or September.

The 2019/20 season is likely to kick-off in early August, meaning Stevenage will be in a race against time to have the stand open for their first home game of the campaign.

Work on the stand at the Lamex Stadium stopped back in June last year after it was discovered that the electricity distributor held the lease for a substation on the site – dating back to 1962.

In Boro’s original planning application architects drew up plans to put a fire resistant chamber around the electrical generator, transmission and distribution system.

This was approved by Stevenage Borough Council before the paperwork error was discovered.

Although the 21-year lease expired in 1983, UK Power Networks insisted that it still has certain rights over the land.