Leisure Box is international award winner

Burnley FC in the Community’s Brierfield-based community leisure facility, The Leisure Box, has been recognised on an international scale, after winning Community Project Award at the TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Awards at the Hilton London Wembley.

This is the facility’s second award in just over two weeks, following its Community Initiative of the Year triumph at the 2019 Northwest Football Awards on Monday 11th November.

Despite facing competition from shortlisted projects based in the USA, Japan, Italy and other parts of the UK, The Leisure Box now has two awards to its name since being officially opened in April this year by former Prime Minister Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

TheStadiumBusiness Judges said: “Burnley FC in the Community has achieved something outstanding; not just visually impactful, but also highly engaging for fans. It’s an excellent development that is attracting significant interest.”

Burnley FC in the Community’s chief executive officer, Neil Hart, said: “We are delighted to win the Community Project Award at TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Awards. I would like to pay special tribute to our contractors Barnfield Construction and our architects Liberata.

“The Leisure Box facility has been a real team effort and it wouldn’t have been possible without a broad range of partners and investors including The Sutton Pendle Charitable Trust, Barnfield Construction Ltd, PEARL, Pendle Borough Council, The Premier League, The Football Association, The Football Foundation and Sport England, as well as a number of other private donors. Thank you to everybody who has brought the project to life.”

TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Awards were launched to recognise leadership, innovation and achievement in the design, development, construction and refurbishment of major sports venue facilities globally.

The Leisure Box is situated in the town of Brierfield, 2.5 miles from Burnley. Spanning three floors and 133,000 square feet, the facility houses an indoor 4G pitch, a sports hall, the biggest ‘clip ‘n climb’ structure in East Lancashire, a kids’ and toddler play area, two full size cricket lanes, for-hire party rooms, a dance and fitness studio, a café and an outdoor 3G pitch.

Since opening in March, there have been over 29,000 visits to The Leisure Box, with the venue fast becoming a key destination in East Lancashire. 50% of provision is delivered free of charge to the community with the aim to bring about tangible health and wellbeing opportunities to local people. The facility has also become the delivery HQ for a scope of Burnley FC in the Community’s programmes.

To find out more about everything The Leisure Box has to offer, please visit www.theleisurebox.org.