FWP to unlock £70m investment with new sports village

The Frank Whittle Partnership (FWP) has been appointed to design a £12m sports village masterplan that is set to deliver up to £70m of investment into an ambitious non-league football club on the south coast.

Hastings United is the latest sports club to take advantage of FWP’s ability to maximise revenue – particularly on non-match days – with the creation of a multi-use sports village in East Sussex.

Preston, London and Manchester-based FWP is designing a 3,000-capacity football stadium which will form the centrepiece of the mixed use Combe Valley Sports Village development as the Isthmian League side seek a move from their home in The Pilot Field in Hastings.

It is the latest detailed masterplan from FWP, the sports stadia specialist, which has successfully advised more than 80 sports clubs across the UK on their redevelopment and modernisation plans.

The chosen location for the sports village is a former landfill site next to Combe Valley Country Park owned by Hastings Borough Council.

It is on the A259 road to Bexhill next to Hastings & St Leonard’s Priory Cricket Club, which is also going to be a major beneficiary of the ambitious scheme. There will be a clubhouse and changing facilities for the semi-professional football club to be shared with St Leonard’s Cricket Club and South Saxons Hockey Club.

The masterplan provides for a 3G pitch and internal and external all-weather sports facilities for the local community and the external floodlit artificial pitches will accommodate a range of sports including a county size boules (petanque) court and a netball court.

The indoor sports hall has changing facilities as well as space for indoor sports such as tennis and badminton, a gym for sports, fitness and healthy living activities and a dance studio, together with meeting rooms and full catering facilities.

Conference and banqueting rooms will enable the football club to generate non-matchday revenue to reinvest into the Hastings United Football Academy, as well as in the first team.

This would give the club the support it needs to hopefully climb through the non-league football pyramid. The club is currently four promotions off league football.

FWP is working with a range of partners to see the sports village come to fruition including local authorities and national housebuilder Keepmoat Homes.

Neil Ainsworth, partner at FWP and the architect behind the sports village vision, said: “This is a complex masterplan bringing together different sports clubs, councils, the planning authority and key development partners.

“To make such an ambitious plan work we need to release land elsewhere for a major new housebuilding programme, which will enable the £12 million sports facilities to be self-funded.

“It’s a classic example of how we work, particularly with sports clubs in the lower leagues, to finance redevelopment projects and help the clubs and communities thrive.”

To date more than 80 sports clubs large and small across the country have benefited from FWP’s advice, with many of them going on to design and build modern new facilities, including Preston North End’s Deepdale ground and AFC Fylde’s new home at Mill Farm.

FWP is also working with Scunthorpe United to design a striking 12,000-capacity all-seater stadium for the Football League club.

It has also created new facilities for Fleetwood Town, Peterborough United and Oldham Athletic and is developing stadia and community assets for clubs such as Leamington, Forest Green Rovers and 1874 Northwich.

FC United of Manchester is another club that has benefitted from FWP’s expertise in its work to create its first home.

FWP today has a 65-strong staff in its Preston, London and Manchester offices helping it deliver success for its sporting clients, which aside from football include the owners of Doncaster racecourse and Leicester Tigers RU club.

Ainsworth added: “The Combe Valley Sports Village project is gaining momentum and we will be holding a public consultation shortly followed by the submission of a planning application in early 2018.

“We could be delivering all these first-class facilities for the start of the 2019/20 football and hockey season.”

It is estimated that the scheme would bring £70m of new investment into Hastings and St Leonards, made up of £58m for much-needed new homes and £12 million for brand new sports facilities.