Building on its recent run of success, Leicester City FC has created a new £100m home on a former golf course at Seagrave, near Loughborough. Officially opened in December 2020, the 145-acre site provides state-of-the-art facilities for the club’s First Team, Development Squad, research and development and Academy setups, as well as facilities to support its various community programmes.
Gallagher Ltd was engaged by McLaren Construction Ltd to undertake the significant package of specialist groundworks and RC structures, which included:
- Substructure concrete foundations for various complex structures.
- 9m high RC retaining buttress walls to envelop the indoor playing pitch building.
- Two-storey RC substructure basement and associated first-floor retaining wall structure to form the main training centre hub building, comprising
- 30 bedroom facility, hydrotherapy pool, rehabilitation facilities and dining.
- 9.5km of below-ground, surface water and foul water drainage, including associated outlets and foul water treatment plants.
- 33km of site-wide service ducts and associated utility trenches.
- Extensive external works including 36,000m2 of sub-base areas, external works paving and 11km of kerbs and paving.
This was one of the most demanding projects we’ve ever undertaken, both from a technical and timing point of view. It was also the most remote from our base in Kent: our groundworkers volunteered to travel to the site, or remain on temporary relocation, throughout the project, which was completed on time despite atrocious unseasonal weather and restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.