Focus Consultants (UK) Ltd were given the task of developing the club's Community Strategy - it's not an easy piece of work but we all think they're making a good job of it.

 

Have a read at their initial work and you'll start to have a feeling for the depth of effort needed to make sure everything comes together.

 

The Club's The Hub

 

Context

 

Chesterfield Football Supporters Society's four-year stewardship of Chesterfield Football Club has placed the Football Club in a unique position in the community, not least by helping to develop strong, lasting links between the local community and the Club.

 

The Chesterfield Football Club brand is also recognised throughout the area, and appeals to a wide variety of organisations looking for a way to promote their services and activities to a diverse audience.

 

There are a number of factors that support the need for a quality Community Facility at Chesterfield Football Club.

 

• There is currently a lack of appropriate and accessible space within the Chesterfield area for local organisations to hold their activities. The new stadium will be located in the Moor ward, one of the more deprived areas of Chesterfield. The new Community Facility will therefore particularly benefit the Moor community, and its surrounding wards, by providing direct access to community, health and educational activities and services.

 

• There are currently large gaps in participation of activities held by certain organisations; in particular, health and educational organisations have difficulty in attracting young males and fathers to their activities. A Community Facility based at Chesterfield Football Club will enable such organisations to use the professional football club brand to promote their activities to difficult to reach groups.

 

• Chesterfield Football Club and Chesterfield Football Supporters Society recognise that the development of 'The Club's the Hub' Facility is a unique opportunity to gain two-way benefits, for both local organisations and the Football Club. Local organisations are keen to use this opportunity by exploiting the brand of the Football Club to promote their services and reach the wider community. At the same time, Chesterfield Football Club and Chesterfield Football Supporters Society recognise that the new Community Facility would provide employment, help boost loyalty to the club, increase turnout and ticket sales and bring in revenue.

 

• The community facilities at the existing site are impractical and highly inappropriate for the activities of most community, health and educational organisations. There are currently no appropriate classroom or conference facilities, health and safety provisions, security features, heating and lighting systems, infrastructure or car parking facilities available.

 

• Young people and adults alike identify with Chesterfield Football Club and are therefore motivated and enthusiastic about participating in learning or other activities at the Football Club.

 

• There is currently no 'Playing for Success', Study Support Centre in North Derbyshire. Therefore, children and young people in the area would benefit from having access to ICT, literacy and numeracy training through services provided at a centre based at the Football Club.  

Project Partners

 

'The Club's the Hub' project has generated support from a wide variety of partners in the area.

 

The following local organisations have confirmed their support for the project:

 

• Chesterfield Borough Council
• Chesterfield Primary Care Trust
• Chesterfield College
• Derbyshire Constabulary
• Derbyshire Connexions Partnership
• Surestart
• Sporting Futures Partnership
• Derbyshire County Council
• Coalfield Regeneration Trust - Positive Futures
• Adult Community Education, Derbyshire County Council
• LINKS Council of Voluntary Services
• Youth Sport Trust / Derbyshire Local Education Authority

 

The Chesterfield Area Regeneration Team (CHART) Local Strategic Partnership Forum also gave their approval for 'The Club's the Hub' project. The CHART LSP forum members include most of the major services providers and community representatives across the Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire area.

 

Mission Statement

 

The vision for 'The Club's the Hub' project is: -

 

"To establish 'The Club's the Hub' as a premiere focal point for community activity within Chesterfield.

 

"To use the high profile brand of Chesterfield Football Club to provide mutual benefits for the Club, local organisations and the wider community."

 

Strategic Objectives

 

• Extend the provision of quality, purpose-built, community space available within the Chesterfield area

 

• Raise achievement, awareness and aspirations, particularly of young people

 

• Support social regeneration and address social exclusion

 

• Recognise and address the needs of all members of the community

 

• Increase and widen participation in community, health and educational activities within the area

 

• Strengthen the link between Chesterfield Football Club / Chesterfield Football Supporters Society and the community
  
  
  

Delivery Objectives

 

• Create a sustainable Community Facility, which offers high quality space and a wide range of services to organisations and individuals in North Derbyshire

 

• Create an recognisable, accessible, approachable and secure community environment within Chesterfield Football Club

 

• Create new, inclusive learning and training opportunities

 

• Make learning attractive and remove barriers for those wishing to access the training opportunities available

 

• Support existing community organisations and create new community groups and initiatives

 

• Give local people the opportunity to access the latest ICT equipment

 

• Provide high speed Internet access for community groups and individuals

 

• Create new high value jobs and safeguard existing jobs

 

• Create new businesses

 

Develop the project in an environmentally responsible manner.

 

Project Description

 

The Community Facility will be located on the first floor of a stand within the new Chesterfield Football Club Stadium, planned to be situated on the old DEMA glassworks site in the Moor ward of Chesterfield.

 

'The Club's the Hub' will provide an identifiable, accessible and vibrant Community Facility, dedicated to tackling exclusion, encouraging learning, improving skills and raising the aspirations of local people. Its onsite location will enable local organisations to take advantage of the Football Club's captive audience in order to promote their services, and increase and widen participation in their activities. The Club's the Hub will work in close co-operation with existing community facilities in the area and will ensure that all activities and services are complimentary to existing provision. The location of the new facility will also significantly contribute to the ongoing social and economic regeneration of the particularly disadvantaged ward of Moor, and its surrounding wards.

 

The Community Facility will offer inviting, light and airy classroom, meeting and office space, on reasonable and flexible terms, to community, health and educational organisations in North Derbyshire. The facility will enable such organisations to exploit the brand of Chesterfield Football Club in order to attract more hard to reach groups of the community to their activities. A number of classrooms will enable health advice, surgery and advocacy services to be provided at the facility, as well as academic and vocational courses, including careers advice, ICT training and specific professional training courses. For large events, lectures or seminars, local organisations will be able to rent purpose-built theatre style space. There will also be a dedicated crèche space for local organisations, and a continuation and expansion of the existing crèche services provided by Chesterfield Football Club's, Football in the Community Scheme. The facility will also provide 'Hot Desk', Internet and central administration services to local organisations and members of the community. To further widen participation in activities, the entrance to the Community Facility will be easily accessible and situated in a high profile location at the Stadium.

 

Chesterfield's Football in the Community Scheme will be based at the facility, and will be provided with a dedicated office space. This will enable the scheme to continue and expand its delivery of professional outreach coaching to children and young people in the community. Using its classroom space, the scheme will run a new and inclusive, educational programme at the Football Club. The programme, which combines the study of academic subjects with sport, aims to raise the levels of attainment for children and young people who have been permanently excluded from school. The programme will also seek to provide advice and guidance for such individuals and give them the opportunity to find a new direction through sport.

 

Another feature of 'The Club's the Hub' will be the Playing for Success, Study Support Centre. The Study Support Centre will use the environment and medium of professional football to help underachieving children and young people to improve their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills. The centre will be equipped with the latest ICT facilities and will be open during the after school hours, weekends and holiday periods.

 

The Community Facility will be designed in an environmentally sustainable manner, using high quality lighting, heating and water systems, to ensure maximum environmental and economic efficiency. The design features will also comply with all statutory requirements, and will ensure that the facility provides a safe, controlled and secure environment for the organisations and individuals that use it.

 

In summary, 'The Club's the Hub' Community Facility will provide the following physical facilities:

 

• A number of fully equipped classrooms that hold up to 30 people at any one time. These rooms will be designed as flexible units, with sliding partitions, which can be transformed into seminar suites, offering theatre-style facilities that hold up to 75 people

 

• A Playing for Success, Study Support Centre

 

• One large, dedicated meeting room and one smaller meeting / interview room that holds between 4 and 6 people

 

• A dedicated 'Club Room', providing a number of 'hot-desks' with Internet access and lockers to local clubs, organisations and individual members of the community

 

• A central administration office, providing access to photocopying, fax, telephone and mail services

 

• A Management Office

 

• A dedicated office space for Chesterfield Football in the Community Scheme Officers

 

• A 'Chill-Out' Area, including a foldaway kitchenette and public vending machines

 

• Crèche facilities, designed in accordance with Ofsted standards

 

• Storage space (cleaner's storage and general storage)

 

• Secure storage space

 

• Male, female and disabled toilets, designed to comply with DDA standards

 

• Shower facilities

 

• Reception and welcome lobby area

 

• Access to outdoor training facilities

 

• Access to changing rooms

 

• Lift access

 

• Access to secure car parking

 

• Access to secure cycle parking

 

• Access to coach drop-off facilities

 

• Access to public transport links

 

• Access for delivery vehicles

 

• High profile, accessible entrance

Project Programme

 

The delivery of the project within a prescribed timescale is an important element of the Project Brief; expeditious delivery will help combat the effect of capital cost inflation.  The capital element of the project must interface smoothly with the operational element and timescale will be an important factor here. 

 

The key milestones and timescales for the delivery of the project are subject to the construction of the new Chesterfield Football Club Stadium. It is currently anticipated that both the stadium and 'The Club's the Hub' will be operational from early 2007.

 

Key Risks

 

The overriding risk is that the fundamental project objectives are not achieved.  The delivery of these is inevitably linked to key capital and operational risks.  The following are suggested as the key capital and operational risks:

Capital

1.       Achievement of complete funding package

2.       Delivering the project within budget including accommodating the impact of inflation

3.       Development costs are at risk until such point as a complete funding package has been secured

4.       Establishing and maintaining a strong and committed partnership to ensure the delivery of the project

5.       Timely development and construction of the new Chesterfield Football Club Stadium

6.       Establishing timely and acceptable legal interest in the shell space

7.       Loss of key project personnel causing unexpected cost and delays to project development

Operational

1.      Lack of demand for space and facilities provided

2.      Expenditure projections prove inadequate

3.      Operational cost inflation outstrips sustainable income rises

4.      Partnership with key tenants and other users does not yield the necessary level of support and involvement

 

5.      Recruitment and retention of quality staff

 

Prepared by Focus Consultants (UK) Ltd, Harby Lodge, 13 Pelham Road, Nottingham. NG5 1AP. Tel 0115 911 5050.