Stoke City Football Club Training Ground

The Challenge

Stoke Football Club (FC) launched a project of investment and modernisation to achieve first-class facilities at its Clayton Wood training ground and reach the coveted Category One status in the Premier League-driven Elite Player Performance Plan.

The site, which is the main training ground for the first team squad, will include modern and technologically advanced facilities on a par with other Premier League clubs and top-flight European teams, which will aid Stoke FC in attracting new talent to the club.

The Solution

The 1,800-square metre site incorporates a full-sized indoor pitch, so players can train throughout the year, regardless of weather conditions. It also offers nine spacious changing rooms, office accommodation, a medical centre, gymnasium, hydrotherapy suite, dining area and press room.

The addition of classrooms to the building means the site can now become home to the Club’s football academy where future footballing talent is trained.

Forterra supplied their Dark Multi Smooth Butterley Bricks for the development of the club’s training building.

Manufactured in the UK at Forterra’s Wilnecote brickworks, this 150-year-old brand provided a perfect, smooth finish and clean lines to complement the building’s glass panels and metallic cladding.

The Benefits

Stoke FC’s investment and regeneration of its facilities has earned it two construction awards: The Local Area Building Council (LABC) Business Excellence Awards for 2014 for the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Shropshire.