Hastings United pass masterplan sports village brief to FWP

Non-league football club Hastings United have appointed The Frank Whittle Partnership (FWP) to design a £12m sports village masterplan.The business will work on a 3,000-capacity football stadium for the Isthmian League side, which will form the centrepiece of the mixed-use Combe Valley Sports Village development as the club seek a move from their home in The Pilot Field in Hastings.The chosen location for the sports village is a former landfill site next to Combe Valley Country Park owned by Hastings Borough Council.On the A259 road to Bexhill, there will be a clubhouse and changing facilities for the semi-professional football club to be shared with St Leonard’s Cricket Club and South Saxons Hockey Club.The masterplan provides for a 3G pitch and internal and external all-weather sports facilities for the local community. The external floodlit artificial pitches will accommodate a range of sports including a county-size boules (petanque) court and a netball court.The indoor sports hall has changing facilities as well as space for indoor sports such as tennis and badminton, a gym for sports, fitness and healthy living activities and a dance studio, together with meeting rooms and full catering facilities.Conference and banqueting rooms will enable the football club to generate non-matchday revenue to reinvest into the Hastings United Football Academy, as well as in the first team.FWP is working with a range of partners to take the sports village through to fruition, including local authorities and national housebuilder Keepmoat Homes.