Surprised it will open that late. The actual structure seems further along than the South Stand was at a similar stage back in late 2014.
Maybe the surrounding elements such as the hotel and retail block will cause some access issues, or maybe the internals are going to be completed to a higher spec since SSL3 did feel a bit rushed internally.
I am not surprised at all. A couple of us have been saying on the other seating thread doubt it will be before '26.
It was always reported as end of Oct/nov for the stand. Once into nov, that's practically December and at that point it is an awkward time for big change. January then sounds much cleaner. Just pure guesswork, rather than thinking they are 'behind'.