May 6 – QPR may be battling to hold on to their Premier League status, but any fears of relegation have not stopped the club investing in its own future with a revised planning application having been submitted for a new training ground at Warren Farm in Ealing, London.
Planning permission has already been agreed for the site in December 2013, but since then new design proposals have been developed. The club is expecting a decision on planning consent this Summer.
The club will build a new training centre that will house the first team and the Academy with a dedicated QPR building including gym, medical, performance analysis, education, office and changing facilities.
There will also be a community sports facility in the development including a new pavilion providing changing facilities and a new multi-purpose social space.
As well as grass pitches, the facility will also have a 3G pitch, an indoor 3G pitch and cricket squares.
In a club statement, Les Ferdinand, QPR’s director of football, said: “We are working closely with Populous and Ealing Council to ensure QPR has a state-of-the-art facility that brings the First Team, Academy and Community together in a unique hub.
“QPR has always been a club that takes pride in its local community and we will ensure that bond is strengthened with this exciting move to Warren Farm.”
While the new training centre is an important part of the club’s development ambition, the bigger target for the club is a move from its Loftus Road stadium to a new arena as part of the Old Oak Common regeneration proposal in West London.
This is multi-billion pound regeneration project which will create thousands of homes and jobs. Still in the planning stage, QPR are working with three London boroughs and the Greater London Authority on a development that would “transform a large area of under-used land at Old Oak intoa thriving and sustainable new quarter for London – with a new stadium acting as the catalyst for new homes, businesses, schools, health facilities and jobs for local people.”
In January QPR chairman Tony Fernandes (pictured) said the Old Oak scheme is “now a daily project with daily effort”. QPR have not released any updated information on project developments since then, but Fernandes did say: “There is a compelling argument for how a new stadium will transform the area.
“I am confident we will find a way to work with the major landowners, so I remain optimistic we will find a way to deliver this dream.”
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