Leicester City Football Club is constructing one of the most advanced training centres within Europe.
The focal point of the training centre is a signature steel-framed building that houses a full-sized indoor pitch, set within a gently sloping earth embankment which blends seamlessly into the surrounding landscape.
The indoor training hall features a lightweight arched roof structure to provide a clear span of approximately 74 x 120m.
The design consists of 13 arched steel trusses, set at 9.3m centres, supporting a box section steel diagrid and a series of intermediate arched rafters set at 4.65m centres. The arched trusses are 3.6m deep at mid-span, reducing to 1.9m at the eaves. They are restrained laterally by a steel diagrid on the bottom boom constructed of 300mm x 300mm box sections. The intermediate arched rafters are supported by the diagrid and propped up on circular hollow section structs.
Each truss was fabricated in four welded parts, which were transported to site and bolted together in two halves. The splice connections take the form of concealed bolted connections with cover plates. The two halves were erected into place using two 80-tonne mobile cranes, bolted together and connected to their supporting perimeter columns.
Once erected, the trusses were tied to the retaining wall structure, and a backfill operation took place to create the slopes on either side of the building. The arched roof of the indoor structure features an overhang of up to 12.5m deep at each gable. A series of UC section cantilever rafters support the overhang.
The site also features a three-storey ‘S’ shaped Training Centre to accommodate the first team and academy squads. The main structure is a steel frame supporting 130mm thick composite mesh reinforced concrete slabs cast on profiled steel decking. The structural grid across the width of the building provides an offset column aligned with the corridor wall giving a grid spacing of 10.15m and 7.8m across the width. The grid spacing along the length of the building varies according to the curve, ranging from 7.3 – 8.4m.
Other steel-framed buildings on-site include the two-storey sports turf academy, where future grounds keepers will be trained and a 499- seat grandstand for the junior pitch. Designed with steel columns and beams, supporting precast terrace units, the stand will allow under 23 and under 18 teams to play in front of a crowd and experience a match environment. A steel-framed machine store was also erected to house maintenance vehicles and a boiler house that will power the centre’s undersoil heating.
