The North Stand was built in 2002 to meet the Scottish Premier League criteria on stadium capacity, which stated at the time that member clubs must have 10,000 seats in their ground. Ironically this criterion was later changed to only 6,000 seats, which not only allowed for the relegation of Partick Thistle, but meant they had constructed a stand which cost the club unnecessarily. Originally, the stand only ran for two-thirds the length of the pitch, but it was extended in 2003. The construction of this stand was assisted by the sale of some land to allow the construction of student flats which now lie behind the stand.