Development Blog: Seeing is Believing

WELCOME to the first in a series of blogs to keep you, the Green Army, updated about the ongoing developments – literally and figuratively – at Home Park.

We are at a really exciting time in the development now; that point where we can physically see the changes happening. The shape of Home Park is changing before our eyes, and for the first time in years things are sinking in that serious change is not only – dare we use the word? – ‘imminent’, but actually happening.

Plenty of people – not just fans, by the way – were in the ‘seeing is believing’ camp. Well, now that we can see actual, structural change to our beloved ground, it is time to believe.

As the club’s Head of Operations, I have become increasingly involved with the project over the last 12 months & am now the club’s Project Manager. That said, although we use the term ‘Project Manager’ for my role – and I do have formal Prince 2 project management experience from my previous career within the police service – in reality it is more to do with ensuring that the operational working requirements of the football club are fully understood by the design and construction teams.

This is one big team effort, and it involves everyone from James Brent and the board, through to you, the Green Army, and various parties in between.

It has been hard, yet rewarding, work to get to this point. Behind the scenes, through various procedures and tasks, a dedicated team of architects, quantity surveyors, planners, construction experts and separate project managers have been working together for more than a year now, and their diligence through the parts of the process which were by no means the sexiest has allowed us to start work the moment the season ended.

It was key all along that we should be in a position to start moving forward as soon as the final ball was kicked at Home Park. Yes, it would have been great to have been active in the season, but it was a fantastic campaign on the field, nonetheless.

I am delighted to be able to say that because of all of these people working so hard on all of this work, our plans are on time, and on course.

This week’s news of Derek Adams signing a new five-year deal, and the coming together of his managerial unit, on top of the thrilling season we have just experienced, makes us even more determined to make sure that off-field developments are assiduously fulfilled, as we strive for excellence at every level of the football club.

Next time, we will look at some of our key partners in the project; we will address some knock-on effects of the development, locally; and we will take a look at how the changes will be chronicled.

Thank you. Keep it Green!

Jon Back
Head of Operations