Broadhurst Park Update - November 2014

The highlight of the past month on site has undoubtedly been the sight of the St Mary’s Road End stand being erected. The first couple of bays are up ready to receive the concrete terracing which has been in storage since the demolition of the Northwich Victoria stadium. When 50% of the superstructure is up we will begin the brickwork and cladding. The concrete delivery is booked in for this week (beginning 10th November). A further update will be given to members at the Annual General Meeting on 26th November.

Progress on the internal works continues. The showers and fit out of the first team and community changing rooms are 80% complete. Light fittings are now going in and work on constructing the bar in the main function room is scheduled to begin shortly.

We have advertised the chef and bar manager jobs with a scheduled start date early in the New Year. If we do take occupancy of the ground prior to Christmas we will employ temporary staff to fill those roles in the interim.

Progress on the artificial pitch has been good with solid progress made. The playing surface has started to go down, all the fences are up and the floodlights are in position. Completion is scheduled for the end of November. The ground works to the front of the building are now well underway with footpaths and tarmacking to begin in the next couple of weeks. One of the features in this area that we are finalising in the next couple of weeks is the ’boardwalk’ from the front entrance to the access road.

Our Diggers group have obtained and planted a large quantity of spring bulbs in the verge to the front of the site entrance. Three of the turnstile blocks are nearing completion. The fourth block in the South East corner will be completed once the St Mary’s Road End is finished.

Away from the build, we’ve received a hugely positive response to our accreditation as a Living Wage employer. In Scotland, Hearts have expressed a desire to follow our lead and Celtic fans are lobbying their club. We have spoken with a couple of other supporter owned clubs but sadly there has been very little to report from other clubs so far in England. Following the announcement by the Labour Party of their manifesto pledge to legislate for supporter representation on club boards, the coalition government have launched their supporter-owned club consultation. It was good to see fellow fan-owned clubs from Exeter, Portsmouth and AFC Wimbledon involved from the very start. We will do everything we can to encourage the ’arms race’ between the political parties as they seek to outdo each other to promote meaningful supporter involvement in football.

We’ll bring you another blog update at the beginning of December.