Fulham FC’s Riverside Stand by Populous reshapes stadium architecture

Fulham FC Riverside Stand by Populous

(Image credit: Populous)

Of all London’s football clubs, Fulham FC has perhaps the most ideally situated ground. Located on the north bank of the River Thames, Craven Cottage sits alongside Fulham Palace, the home of the Bishop of London for centuries and with roots dating back well over a thousand years. Even the club itself has a long history with the site.

Founded in 1879, it moved to the site in 1896, with many of the original structures – including the Johnny Haynes Stand and the ‘Cottage’ itself – now listed as exemplary pieces of early sporting infrastructure design.

Fulham FC's new Riverside Stand (at left) by Populous

Nothing stands still in the world of football, however. The architecture and design firm Populous was tasked with reshaping the final piece of the site’s jigsaw, the Riverside Stand. The plans for the overhaul date back to the chairmanship and ownership of the disgraced businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, buoyed by his sale of Harrods for £1.5bn in 2010. Al-Fayed sold Fulham in 2013, after putting in sufficient investment to elevate the club to the Premier League (as well as an ill-advised statue of Michael Jackson).

The rooftop view of Fulham FC's pitch from the new Riverside Stand

The Riverside redevelopment plans never went away, unlike Al-Fayed’s reputation. Under the ownership of the Pakistani-American tycoon Shahid Khan, Fulham still had the funds and the drive to make the scheme a reality.

Opened in May 2025, after a long and pandemic-spliced construction process, the new stand makes an exceptional virtue of its location, as well as bringing some of the most high-end hospitality facilities to a London club.

The new stand opens up the path by the river

Wallpaper* was fortunate enough to experience a game (a tense and riotously goal-filled loss to Manchester City, 5-4) from the vantage point of the Riverside Stand, as well as explore the rooms and suites above it.

We subsequently spoke to Declan Sharkey, global director and senior principal at Populous, on the genesis of the scheme and its realisation. ‘The chairman wanted to create a world-class destination,’ Sharkey explains, ‘a big members’ club in an amazing location.’

At high level, the new stand offers spectacular views of the Thames

The new stand doesn’t just improve sightlines for match-goers. In addition to the upper tiers of hospitality, a new walkway along the Thames frontage runs directly behind the stand and is open to the public, except on match days, when it becomes a crucial part of the food and drink experience.

Inside the new Riverside Stand, with interiors by Stuart Forbes Associates

According to Sharkey, the big architectural gestures of the new stand are inspired by the location. Four ribbons of glazing are stacked high over the Thames path, cantilevered out with prominent steel supports. Above these is an upper tier of hospitality space, all set beneath a curving, bronze-coloured roof.

‘We’ve flipped the hospitality model on its head, with views out, not in,’ Sharkey admits, adding that the combination of glazing, roof and superstructure was partly inspired by the many residential houseboats on the Thames. ‘It’s a layered piece of architecture,’ he says, ‘with a gentle curve that reflects the curve of the river.’

The seating itself is steeply raked and provides excellent viewing angles. The 33-degree slope is just less than the maximum allowed in the UK (35 degrees) and the front row of seats in the new stand is 3.5m from the sidelines.

It’s a thousand miles from the old Johnny Haynes stand on the other side of the pitch, converted from standing terraces to seating in the last century yet still with a modest scale that’s at odds with the game’s evolution into a global phenomenon, watched by and earning billions.

Some of that high roller style is in evidence in the Riverside Stand, where a number of different bars and eateries (including the Marker’s Bar, the Originals, the Gourmet, the Dugout and the Thames Bar Room) serve up everything from cocktails to small plates and full meals.

Populous, which worked with the interior design team at Stuart Forbes Associates, has become adept at conjuring up a cinematic yet functional vision on the grandest of scales.

Fulham is a single stand development, not a new stadium, and a similar venture is underway at the ground of starry, media-friendly Wrexham AFC. For Sharkey, it’s all about increasing the ‘offer’, building out different tiers of access and amenity to lure the corporate big spenders to the club.

Populous's plans for Wrexham AFC's new Kop Stand — Populous' plans for Wrexham AFC's new Kop Stand

Stadiums have always been big business, but the scope and scale of what such a structure means to its wider surroundings has become increasingly important. When Sharkey joined Populous nearly 20 years ago, he says, the state of the industry was ‘Stadium 1.0’.

‘Ten years ago, we were at Stadium 2.0,’ he says, ‘and now we’re at Stadium 3.0, where we’re bringing the high street into the stadium, from chicken shops to micro-breweries.’ According to Sharkey, landmark projects like the Populous-designed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (opened 2019) really moved the industry on, with its 65 food and drink outlets, in-house bakery and high-end Sky Lounges.

Inside the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Populous was also the architect behind the Co-Op Live, the multi-functional Manchester arena with a capacity of 23,500, a reputation for excellent sound and no fewer than 32 food and drink venues scattered around the floorplan. These include some very high-end spaces, such as the 100-capacity Bentley Record Room and 200-capacity Hideaway.

Crucial to the way the Co-Op functions – just like Craven Cottage’s Riverside Stand – is its ability to offer punters on-the-spot upgrades, tapping into the sense of occasion of a match or a gig to ramp up spending.

Vertu Place in Manchester's Co-op Live arena

None of this naked salesmanship would work if the core offering wasn’t attractive. At Fulham, Populous has shaped a simple, elegant steel structure with a striking bronze roof, alongside Stuart Forbes Associates’ ‘unique interior experience’.

The Riverside Stand features interiors by Stuart Forbes Associates

These range from diner-style red velvet banquettes to bars festooned with chrome and marble. Decorative tiles and murals, richly textured walls and ceilings, elaborate light fittings and dense indoor planting evoke the feel of a boutique hotel, not the backrooms of an ageing football stadium.

‘Every project has this golden triangle of design-cost-revenue,’ says Sharkey, explaining how the design of the Riverside Stand maximised the availability of upper-tier space – home to the Lighthouse Social club space – and the views over the river. ‘It’s a real community asset’, he says, pointing to the opening up of the Thames Path, as well as the event spaces, restaurants and clubhouses that are open on non-match days.

What next for hospitality design? ‘We’re seeing lots more flexibility [in schemes],’ says Sharkey, ‘with multiple events happening over the day. They have to be authentic. These are also hyper-connected spaces – look at the Sphere in Las Vegas.’ Populous’ stacked portfolio includes the new billion-euro AS Roma Stadium, due to open in 2028 – ‘We’re bringing the café culture of Rome into the stadium,’ says Sharkey.

The 60,000 capacity AS Roma Stadium is due to open in 2028

More controversially, there's also the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium in the new Qiddiya City entertainment complex outside Riyadh, due to open in 2029. Perched on the edge of a cliff, the stadium’s exterior is bedecked with screens to create an animated, ever-changing form.

A render of the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium in Riyadh

It's a long way from the peaceful ambience of the new Thames-side path on days when football isn’t being played. The only sounds are the distant shouts of a cox and oars dipping into the water as rowing clubs keep pace with the joggers that run up and down this new section of river frontage.

High above them are a set of richly decorated new realms, spaces where football is practically an afterthought. The most important thing is that attendees feel they’re being entertained.

Populous.com, @WearePopulous, StuartForbes.com, FulhamFC.com, LighthouseSocial.com

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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.