Visitor centre installed at City Football Academy site

AV Group says that more than 500 visitors have viewed on-going development work at the new City Football Academy after it installed a visitor centre at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City's new youth development complex and first-team training facility is due to open in time for the 2014/2015 Premier League season.

Visitors from schools, local residents and colleges have turned up to see the views over the development site.

Denton-based AV Group is providing all of the temporary site accommodation during the build phase, fulfilling BAM Construction's brief to provide a visitor centre and viewing facility alongside accommodation for contractors and subcontractors.

The centre shows plans of the finished academy and allows visitors view the construction site to see how the finished facility will eventually look.

The site accommodation creates 15,800 sq ft of space over three floors and includes a lift to the viewing gallery.

Mike Burchall of AV Group, said: "The standard of temporary accommodation required on major construction sites like this now is extremely high. Clients want to provide the highest standard of facilities for their people and that includes showers, fitted kitchens, Sky TV in the canteen, open-plan meeting rooms with no posts in the middle as well as eco-friendly details such as passive infra-red lighting, rainwater harvesting and the best possible levels of insulation.

"Keeping uniformity on site is really important and we have extended our contract with BAM Construction to also provide additional units for sub-contractors FK Construction."

AV Group specialises in providing modular and site accommodation for construction firms, hospitals, sports clubs and schools. It manufactures all of its stock at its sister company Danzer in Nottingham.

The project is being led by Manchester City Council and supported by Manchester City Football Club.