Work to build a state-of-the-art indoor football facility in the region is ahead of schedule. The £1.5m Soccer Factory, which will provide seven 3g five-a-side courts at its new premises on Aycliffe Business Park is expected to open later this year.
The first of a three-phase refurbishment programme started last month and was expected to take six weeks, but the initial work on the former Thrislington building, empty for 5 years, has finished early.
The second phase of the development, a complex task to repair the badly-damaged roof, is now due to start and expected to take a further six weeks. Managing director Dan Lewis (pictured), the driving force behind the ambitious plans, said: “We’re already seeing a transformation of the building inside.
It’s already starting to look like a different building and it’s very exciting for us – we’re now counting down the weeks until our opening.”
The Soccer Factory is on Durham Way North and the new landlords of the unit have invested a significant amount of cash to kick-start the project.
Once up and running, it will provide a brand new health and fitness suite, a multipurpose studio, a café/ bar and a sports injury clinic as well as the seven football pitches made with the latest 3g, rubber-crumb surfaces.
It promises to create 15 new jobs and, along with other leisure facilities on Aycliffe Business Park, ensure the town becomes a popular destination for people from the whole of the South West Durham area, as well as further afield.
Mr Lewis added: “It’s been a dream of mine for a long time and it’s hugely exciting and something we think will be very popular – something for people and the business community to buy in to – and we strongly feel this will be a great development for Newton Aycliffe and the surrounding area.”
You can follow the progress of The Soccer factory on Twitter @ThSoccerFactory and Facebook www.facebook.com/TheSoccerFactoryLtd
