A £100m training complex has finally been approved following the granting of a Compulsory Purchase Order by the High Court. The new training facility will be built on ground adjacent to the Etihad Stadium, the home ground of Manchester City F.C. In May this year, the Manchester Evening News revealed that the remaining two businesses at the proposed location for the new training complex had reached a satisfactory agreement with Manchester City prior to the hearing for the CPO, which took place in London.
The new development will host a Sixth Form college, a 7,000-seat stadium, community sports facilities, media space and office space. Manchester will benefit from the new development with the creation of jobs for local people and regeneration of the area. Office space in particular is in huge demand in Manchester city centre.
It is hoped that the new facility will be open by 2014, with players of the first team experiencing the injury and rehabilitation centre, refectory and gym. The chief executive of New East Manchester urban regeneration company, Eddie Smith, stated that existing businesses had received assistance to relocate and current jobs had been sustained. The new facility will be linked by a footbridge to the Etihad Stadium, while the new training complex has been designed following visits by 30 Blues officials to some of the best sporting institutes in the world.
Work on the new training facility will now go ahead to provide one of the best sports institutions in the world.
