BUILDING work on a new grandstand at Great Leighs racecourse is set to begin this week.

The £6million project will hold as many as 3,000 spectators and will include hospitality suites and a betting hall. It will be built on the foundations of the old complex, removed in January 2011.

Owners Great Leighs Estates Limited, a collaboration between Betfred tycoon Fred Done and media partners SIS and Bet Solutions International, also plan to rename the track Chelmsford City Racecourse.

They hope to have work completed by November, and for racing return to the site – which had its racing licence revoked in January 2009 when it went into administration – by next year.