Newcastle firm to lead England football centre development

Feb 3 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

NEWCASTLE firm Red Box Design will lead the development of the new £100m England football centre in a deal which will help secure the jobs of its 30 staff.

Founded by Alan J Smith OBE, Red Box successfully bid to design and project manage the new soccer academy to be known as St George’s Park, at Burton on Trent, in Staffordshire.

The architectural, design and project management firm beat off competition from across the UK to secure the work, after presenting its ideas to the Football Association (FA).

Since winning the contract in February last year, Red Box has toured the world looking at football academies on which to base its design and talked to leading figures in the English game, including FA chief and former England player Sir Trevor Brooking.

Its proposals were unveiled to the national media two weeks ago and the FA hope to start work on the development in the autumn.

The 330-acre National Football Centre will feature 12 pitches – including one synthetic and one indoor – plus sports medicine and sports science facilities, two hotels and a conference centre.

Sunderland fan Alan said: “This hit all of the buttons for Red Box. Our strengths lie in designing educational facilities, swimming pools, indoor sports facilities, along with science and medical facilities and hotels.

“The firms we were bidding against could do some of the elements but not the full package.

“Winning the contract is a major coup for the practice and the North East.”

The new academy is based on the best elements of those found in Europe, including the first such academy Coverciano, near Florence, in Italy, from which current England manager Fabio Capello graduated.

Capello said: “The venue will be an inspirational site, a place for coaches and players to work, learn and develop. This is a much-needed facility and through my own experiences at Coverciano, I understand the importance of the centre for England.” The academy has been in the planning stage for the best part of ten years.

It will be a permanent home the English national football team and is designed to ensure excellence in English football coaching and football support sciences.

Red Box operates across Europe and has, over the years, designed some of the North’s major projects, including the Sunderland Aquatic Centre, Northern Rock House, Baltic Business Park in Gateshead and the new Gateshead College.

Mr Smith said the practice will be involved in all stages of project managing the work. It currently has six staff working on the scheme and expects this to rise to 12 at various stages over the coming years.

The planning application is being submitted on February 19, work is due to start in October and completion is expected in Autumn 2012.

The contract will be worth a seven-figure sum to Red Box, which is based in Newcastle city centre.