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Football London
Football London
Sport
Alasdair Gold

Tottenham submit planning application for training ground expansion to help next manager

Tottenham have submitted a planning application to Enfield Council to extend part of the first team area at their Hotspur Way complex in a move they believe will help future managers and their coaching staff.

The sprawling training ground, which is often used by England and other visiting national teams, is constantly being upgraded and updated, with work currently taking place to build a new media centre on site for club staff having recently improved the academy buildings. Now Spurs have submitted a new application, partially retrospective, to extend the first team training centre building to help house their ever-growing numbers of coaching staff.

The proposal is for a single storey extension to the northern most bay protrusion of the first team wing, to the north-west of the building. It would provide additional facilities for use by the first team coaches, including new dedicated office spaces, private offices and meeting rooms, alongside kit storage and ancillary areas for support functions. The extension would provide 231sqm of new floorspace.

READ MORE: Why Ryan Mason was shouting at Stellini, the Roberto de Zerbi decision and Tottenham retreat

The building materials used will match the recently-constructed academy extension at the training complex.

The club's application, prepared by F3 Architects, states: "The brief for the proposed first team extension has developed as a direct response to the club’s ongoing operational needs, as they seek to continue their success at the highest level of European football. The club is committed to continue delivering a high-quality service and talent development suited for a top tier football team.

"As a result, the size and existing facilities in its current building must follow suit in terms of expansion and improvement, within this advancing field of sports facilities.

"Since the training centre opened nearly 10 years ago in late 2012 there have been a number of developments across the elite men’s professional game and sports science that now require the club to investigate the need to expand the first team wing at the training centre.

"This would support the operational and training requirements of the first team, and help to maintain the facility’s world class status, which is vital to club’s ability to perform at the highest national and international levels, as well as attract future talent.

"These new developments in sports science have required the number of permanent staff members to increase from 105 in 2016 to 190 in 2021, due to the expansion of existing departments within the centre, and a number of newly formed ones."

It added: "Over the last five years the club has experienced great success with their first team. As a result of this there has been an increase in first team football staff numbers. Which means that the training centre is no longer able to safely provide high-quality service and talent development in its current building size.

"The proposed improvement is required to allow the first team to deliver the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan to the best of their ability."

The application was validated last week by the council's planning department and will now begin working its way through the process to the eventual planning committee decision.

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