Rolton Group has been working alongside Peterborough United Football Club (PUFC) on plans to expand the idverde training ground at Nene Park Academy.
This included new public utility supplies, civil and infrastructure and a 3G playing surface with an 11m high air-supported structure (dome) to house it, which was part of the criteria that has enabled the PUFC Academy to attain Category Two status, the second highest available in the UK.
Attaining Category Two status gives PUFC Academy a tremendous boost as they will now join the 21 teams already in Category Two and play in the Professional Development League. A tiered approach across football academies means that PUFC will receive a larger investment than was previously available to them as a Category 3 Academy club.
We are proud to have been appointed direct to the client on such a project, providing geotechnical, civil and infrastructure, structural and MEP design consultancy services for the renovation, which also includes an upgraded and extended car park alongside the provision of a new accommodation featuring changing rooms, WC’s and educational facilities, which we should see come to life later this year.
Our team of engineers worked within the constraints of an active site to deliver the £1.7 million-pound project and the Civil team liaised closely with the Lead Local Flood Authority to ensure the success of the planning application. The MEP team had to ascertain the feasibility of bringing new public utility supplies onto the site to support the project. Once detailed load calculations were complete, the team provided new electrical supplies with new natural gas supply and a new high voltage transformer substation rated at 500kVA to support the existing training facility and the development of the air-supported structure with spare capacity for the future ‘five-year plan’ for the training ground. To minimise the construction time, the Structural team suggested that a steel fibre mesh was adopted in lieu of traditional reinforcement cages, saving over two-weeks on the installation time.
Now complete, the newly expanded training ground will host the PUFC first team, reserves, The Posh Foundation, Academy, women and girls and disability teams. The club has also been working extremely closely with local school, Nene Park Academy, now that the project is complete the students will benefit from having exclusive access to the facilities between 9am and 3pm during term time. The newly enhanced facilities will further increase community use as it will also be accessible to the general public, envisioned to be used by adults living in the surrounding areas for walking football, to support people suffering from mental health and for disability groups, adding real value to the local community.
Project Director and Managing Director of Rolton Group, Craig Smith, said:
“It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to be involved in a project such as this. The timely completion of this scheme is a true testament to the commitment to collaboration demonstrated by all the key stakeholders to ensure that expectations have not only been met, but exceeded during very challenging and unprecedented times.
A huge well done to all!”
