Development Blog: A Little Help From Our Friends

IN the second of our new blog series regarding the Home Park Development, Project Manager Jon Back thanks various parties whose contributions have been very important...

Hello, and welcome to the second in our series of blogs regarding the ongoing redevelopments at Home Park. We hope you all had an enjoyable Bank Holiday Weekend. Although there were play-off games and the Champions League final, let’s face it, weekends are not the same without Argyle, are they? Roll on the new season!

Today, I want to introduce you to a number of organisations, many and varied, who are working with us on various levels to support, assist and document the changes that will update and regenerate Home Park to where we want to be.

This is not an exhaustive list; there are dozens, probably hundreds of people that deserve our thanks. We would, though, like to place on record some of our involvement with key groups as far as the project goes.

Our construction partners – GL events – have been part of the team for months now, and our relationship is a really good one. As part of our construction partner selection process, I spoke to people that have worked with them at other stadia across the country, and GLe’s reputation is one to envy. We are very happy to have them on board.

We continue to have a really positive relationship with Plymouth City Council. We have made a number of submissions to meet the requirements of our pre-commencement planning conditions. This will allow us to move seamlessly from the preparatory (enabling) phase that we are currently in, into the full demolition and construction phase that follows without delay.

Of great importance to us is the Central Park environment, of which we are an integral part. As a Plymothian, who as a young lad was brought to the park on sunny days by my dear ole mum, it is important to me, and we recognise concerns of local residents or lovers of one our wonderful city’s many beautiful green spaces.

As just one example, we have delayed some parts of our enabling work to ensure that we do not disturb nesting birds at a vital time of year for them, and have employed an ecology expert to help guide us on this, and other similar aspects which must be approached with great care, so as to preserve the ecological wellbeing of Central Park.

We are also working closely with PAHA – the Plymouth Argyle Heritage Association – to make sure that everything that may be of importance or interest to future generations of the Green Army is both curated and protected.

Of course it would be remiss of me to fail to mention the wonderful Green Taverners, or the GTs as everyone knows them. When the first version of our plans were published, it was the GTs who came to us with a proposal that would see the delivery of a new supporters’ bar that was even bigger and better than what we were planning. To get to where we are today with everything signed and sealed, we’ve probably squeezed 18 months of planning and legal agreements into the last 6, and the current plans are incredibly exciting.

To keep people updated, we will be installing webcams over the coming weeks as well as covering what we’re doing on our website and social media streams. In addition to this, we’ve invited our great friends from Greens on Screen to document and photograph every step of the journey. You can find their work at GreensOnScreen.co.uk.

To everyone else, every other vital cog in the Green engine, we thank you all for playing your part. Before too long, this blog will transition from the end of the beginning phase, things will start taking shape before our eyes, and before you know it we will be talking completion.

Thank you. Keep it Green.

Jon Back
Head of Operations