CPUK joins team on £50m Liverpool FC training ground

CPUK has been chosen to upgrade community sports facilities as part of Liverpool FC’s wider £50m project to create a new training ground in Kirkby.

The football club has picked the Skelmersdale-based contractor to fully upgrade Eddie McArdle community playing fields, which are situated next to its new training ground and are operated by Knowsley Council.

CPUK will deliver five upgraded football pitches, changing facilities, a pedestrian and cycle path, and car parking for 110 vehicles at the site; the company’s contract is on a design-and-build basis.

The pitches will be fully reconstructed with improved drainage while the changing building, which is to be built off-site, includes six team changing rooms as well as a social room for team and community use.

A footbridge over the brook at the bottom of the site will also be removed and replaced.

The footpath, cycle path, car park, and pitches are expected to be completed later this year; the changing rooms will follow next summer when the grass on the pitches has become established and ready for use by local teams.

The Eddie McArdle playing fields sit next to the site of the football club’s new £50m training facility, which is being built by contractor McLaughlin & Harvey. CPUK’s contract sits separate to McLaughlin & Harvey’s deal.

CPUK managing director Steve Burke said: “The upgraded playing fields will be a fantastic asset to the local community and we’re delighted to have been chosen to deliver the project.

“The high-quality pitches and the modern changing facilities are designed to encourage and support grassroots football in the area.

“We will be using the latest modular construction methods to deliver the changing block. Once the building is on site it will take our team four weeks to assemble, connect and test.”

Liverpool’s move to its new facilities will see its former training ground in Melwood redeveloped for up to 160 homes. This secured planning consent in December last year.