Building work has now commenced to transform the Barnfield Training Centre into a £10.6m state-of-the-art facility.
The club gained planning permission last summer to build a brand-new training complex on the existing footprint in Padiham, which falls within National Trust boundaries.
And after undergoing a recent name change to the Barnfield Training Centre, following a major sponsorship deal, the Nelson-based contractors have now begun a year-long project to provide the club with top class facilities.
Burnley FC Stadium and Operations Manager Doug Metcalfe said: “It’s great news to finally be on site and we can finally start to see some progress now, as it has been a long time in the making.
“We have spent four or five years now wondering how we develop the training ground to move the club forward, and it won’t be long before the steelwork comes out of the ground, the structure takes shape and it will all come together.
“We will hopefully be all completed in 12-14 months’ time, and when the players come back from the close season in 2017, they will walk into a brand new training facility.”
The development of the 73,000 m2 area will include new pitches and, crucially, the building of a dedicated new training centre to bring first class facilities for the first team, development squad and youth team players under one roof for the first time.
And Clarets boss Sean Dyche added: “It’s a very exciting time for the club!
“Although the club committed to the project some time ago, we still had to go through all the planning, which was thankfully achieved.
“All of a sudden it will all gather pace and there has been massive changes already.
“It’s amazing for us, as staff and players, coming out every day to see how quickly the landscape changes.
“I understand as the manager we need to make sure things are right on the pitch, but there is a bigger picture to the club and this is a massive part of that.”
The image shows from left to right:
Joe Webber, Site Engineer; Andrew Brown, Senior Estimator; Charlotte Pickup, Marketing & PR Manager; Sean Dyche, Burnley FC Manager; Steve Riley, Contracts Director and Darren MacKenzie, Site Manager
