By Simon Austin – August 16, 2024
The EPPP Academy system has transformed elite youth development in England and achieved its inaugural goal of producing more and better domestic players.
Since the introduction of the EPPP in 2012, the number of full-time Academy coaches has tripled, contact time with players has increased significantly, and England’s under-21 domestic Premier League minutes have doubled. Perhaps most importantly, there is success on the international stage for both England’s youth and senior teams.
Crystal Palace opened their dome in October 2021 as part of a £20 million academy revamp that helped them achieve Grade 1 status. It has full size 3G speed with viewing gallery. As you enter the dome’s infield, there are no obtrusive columns or pillars, natural light floods in, and an intricate steel lattice arches above you.
Bournemouth had to commit to building an inner dome before they were promoted to Category Two in the summer of 2023. Their dome, which is 77m wide, 107m long and has a ridge height of 17m, has been in use since the start. this year.
Academy director Sam Gisborne said: “The equipment is amazing. We use it every night, we’ve had no problems so far and the players and staff love it.”
Preston-based Collinson Tensile built the domes at both Bournemouth and Palace and have become experts in building indoor football training facilities. Their steel-framed fabric buildings are supplied by Finland’s BestHall and were originally developed to protect against Scandinavian snow.
Over the past 22 years, the company has supplied buildings for sports including football, rugby union, tennis, cricket, equestrian and even surfing, but football now accounts for around 20 per cent of the company’s business.
Another great advantage of these steel-framed fabric buildings is the natural light they provide.
“In traditional buildings like B&Q, for example, you get pockets of light through the roof and skylights,” Collinson explained. “With us, you get a perfectly even light, not dark-light-dark light, which is the best way to almost imitate outdoor conditions.
“It’s a nice environment to play sports and work. You have much higher lux levels, so in daylight you don’t need to use artificial light at full power. It also brings environmental and economic benefits.”
Stretchability means a taut fabric, which is another big advantage.
“Once we install the fabric, it’s literally drum-tight,” Collinson said. “You can walk on it, there is no movement and it will be like that for decades to come. Without movement, you don’t wear out.
“An alternative would be wires or cables in tension, which means that the building will bend and move during the first two years and everything will stretch. This means that the membrane gets looser and looser and you either have to constantly get up to ceiling level to tighten these things or else there is wear and tear and damage.
“With us, it will continue to operate. You can go see one of our 20-year-old buildings and it will still be performing. That’s what sets our system apart.”
Collinson is typically on site at the Academy for 16 weeks to complete the building.
“If you already have planning permission, we can start in four months and you can have the dome up and running within eight months,” Mr Collinson said.
“In the case of Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, around 50 articulated trailers delivered steel to the site. After that, it was assembled on the ground.
“We bring the cranes in and lift the steel structures off the ground into the structural bank,” Collinson said. “The legs swing into place and we go down the length of the building, placing the frame in its final position.”
The fabric covering the frame is a PVC-coated polyester film with a maximum thickness of 2 mm.
“This is coated with a proprietary system called Precontraint, which is French,” Collinson said. “Polyester threads have a two-way weave and pre-restriction tightens the fabric in both dimensions, so you get this stability in the coating, meaning it doesn’t stretch.
“It provides a roof structure and keeps the wind and rain out.”
Bournemouth have been using their domes all year and are aiming to have their entire Canford Magna training and Academy complex open by the end of this year.
Project manager Darren Booth said: “I researched the different options – seven companies in total – and I preferred the Collinson system. If I were to do another project, the answer would still be the same: Collinson.
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