The main stand at St Helen’s has been stripped back to its steel skeleton — as new drone footage reveals just how far the famous old ground has been taken apart in its £7.6m rebuild.
The footage, released by the Ospreys, shows thousands of blue seats lifted out and stacked in rows along the touchline, with the stand’s raking steelwork laid bare beneath the Trade Centre Wales roof.
And it comes with news: the existing main stand is being relocated to the Mumbles end of the ground, where the club says it will be transformed into a new Family Stand — combining retained elements with new upgrades.
Under-16 season memberships in the Family Stand will start from £50, the Ospreys say.
The aerial shots show the full sweep of the works: the pitch stripped to bare earth, with rollers and dumpers compacting the surface and a cross of drainage stone laid where the new playing surface will go.
Along the Oystermouth Road side, demolition teams have been clearing mounds of twisted steel and cladding, with the boundary wall wrapped in scaffolding.
Lorries have been carting material away throughout the week as the site is cleared and levelled.
Two workers can be seen unbolting seats high in the old stand, row by row — the last stage of emptying a structure that has watched over the ground for decades.
The relocation means the stand’s story continues rather than ends: elements of the structure will be kept and rebuilt into the new family section.
It is the latest step in the transformation that will see the Ospreys move in next season — with a new seafront stand, a fan zone and a capacity of nearly 7,000 at the rebuilt ground.
The ground’s most visible change came last month, when Europe’s tallest sports floodlight came down after more than 60 years.
And the project’s community ambitions took shape earlier today, as Alun Wyn Jones joined the new Swansea Rugby Community Board steering how clubs and schools share in the redeveloped ground.
The board will help decide access to the new 3G pitch and facilities — with a player pathway planned from grassroots rugby through to the Ospreys.
St Helen’s has hosted Swansea RFC, Glamorgan cricket and Wales internationals across three centuries — and its rebuilt form is due to open for the coming season.
The Ospreys say further updates on the ground, and on season memberships, will follow over the summer.
