Roof comes off Stan Cullis stand

The roof came off Wolves' Stan Cullis stand today — for the second time in a week.

Just days after ecstatic fans lifted the roof off the famous stadium in wild celebrations to mark Premier League survival, a giant claw got to work on dismantling the stand for real today.

The mechanical arm pulled huge lumps of metal out before sending them crashing down on the now-empty seating area ahead of a £16 million redevelopment

Working its way from the Steve Bull stand, the machine ripped much of the front of the roof out in minutes leaving twisted sections hanging down.

The claw arm had been used to remove the stand's 5,200 seats earlier this week. Fittings have been stripped from the inside of the stand leaving a shell ready to be reduced to rubble. Bulldozers will move in next week to demolish the rest.

The single tier stand is being torn down to make way for a two-tier, 7,700-seater replacement.

The development will boost the capacity from 29,408 to 31,700 and marks the beginning of a four-year £40m project, which could eventually see capacity increase to 50,000.

The new structure will be less than 20ft from the pitch — much closer than the current stand — and rise considerably higher.

The first tier of the new stand will be ready to seat an estimated 3,000 fans in uncovered areas by the middle of September, with the replacement up and in use in time for the 2012/13 season. The initial step will cost £16m and will also include a new museum, shop, kiosks, bars, and dining rooms.

Phase two of the development would see the Steve Bull stand demolished and rebuilt. The new stand would adjoin the Stan Cullis stand, with the gap between the north and east stands filled in during phase one. This would boost capacity to 36,000.

Phase three, which would involve ripping off the roof of the Jack Harris stand and installing a second tier, would add another 1,000-plus seats to what is fondly known as the South Bank. In the first phase of redevelopment capacity will fall to 23,995.

All work should be completed by the 2014/15 season, with an option to increase capacity to 50,000 in future.