A multi-million pound major renovation of the Portman Road pitch has begun.

Ipswich Town secured promotion to the Championship with a 6-0 home win against Exeter City on Saturday.

With that result elimating a potential play-off game on Suffolk soil, the diggers have arrived to start the most substantial work on the Blues' playing surface since 1977.

Undersoil heating and high-draining sand will be installed below a modern hybrid surface and served by a new sprinkler and irrigation system.

The work will take a minimum of six weeks to complete.

Demolition work on the former Staples and Better Gym building behind the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand is also underway.

The club purchased that land in October 2021, with chief executive Mark Ashton insisting no decision has been made on its long-term use yet.

Meanwhile, Town have applied for planning permission to add more executive boxes and office space to the Magnus Group West Stand.

The existing executive boxes in the stand were built during the late 1990s with the ultimate aim of filling all the way across to the North Stand end. This work, however, wasn’t completed.

Due to the major work being undertaken on the pitch, the ashes of fans interred at Portman Road will be moved to a new memorial garden behind the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand.