Conlon begins build of Enterprise Zone sports village

Conlon Construction has begun the second phase of development of a new £5m sports village at Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.

The 35-acre site off Common Edge Road in Marton, Blackpool comprise a single-storey 7,200 sq ft changing and spectator facility; a 3G sports pitch, replacement grass rugby pitch and training area; reconfiguration and extension of the existing car park to accommodate 194 cars; as well as alterations to the existing access road.

The sports facilities will be used by the Spirit of Youth Junior Football Club, which has 250 registered players, and other clubs in the local area.

The build will take 10 months to complete with an anticipated opening in summer 2022 and will create approximately 10 full-time equivalent local construction jobs throughout the lifetime of the project. Blackpool Council has also applied for £200,000 grant funding from the Football Foundation to assist the project.

Designed by Preston-based architectural, planning and building surveying practice, Cassidy + Ashton, the scheme is the first stage of a £28.8m investment allocated for the redevelopment of the wider 355-acre Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone. Over the next 25 years, Blackpool Council aims to spend £70m on the Enterprise Zone to attract 140 businesses and help create 5,000 jobs.

Darren Lee, commercial director at Conlon Construction, said: “The local community and a vast number of stakeholders have long been anticipating work starting on site, as it indicates the beginning of a new generation of sport and leisure opportunities for the people of Blackpool.

“The facilities across the new Enterprise Zone will be exceptional in their quality, but what’s even more important to us is knowing they’ve been delivered using contractors who have social value at their heart so we can be assured the project has a lasting legacy of benefits to the people of the local region.”

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