WORK is almost complete on a £1.3 million sports complex next to the home of Bradford City which is set to become a community hub.
Midland Road Sports Complex, attached to the existing BEAP Community Partnership building on Cornwall Road, Manningham, will include a host of new facilities for the community in the Bradford district.
The new site will feature changing rooms, a pavilion, cafe and three 5G football pitches for five and seven-a-side matches.
The derelict MUGA site of Lupton Street Park, a tarmac sports pitch, had attracted anti-social behaviour, including vandalism and the lighting of fireworks until building work began on the centre in September last year.
Work on the inside of the site's new pavilion is taking place, including decorating it, with its electricity supply including the pitch's floodlights, set to be installed over the next few weeks.
In the indoors sports hall, new heating, lighting and flooring is to be completed.
Funding for the project has come from the Football Foundation, the Premier League, the FA and government’s charity that helps communities improve their local football facilities through football grants; the Power to Change charitable trust, Sport England and Bradford Council, the latter pumping in £100,000 for the project.
The new-look complex is also set to become a fan zone on Bradford City matchdays where Bantams fans and their away counterparts can meet up before kick-off.
The site is set to be officially opened on a date to be determined in July this year.
Bradford City Community Foundation, the club's charity, has teamed up with BEAP on the project, which they hope to use for its community activities throughout the week as well as on Bantams' matchdays.
The overall cost of the project went up from £1.2 to £1.3m due to a rise in the cost of materials over recent months.
Humayun Islam, BEAP chief executive, said: "Most of the superficial work has been done now. It's really coming on.
"It is at the final stages of completion of the work now.
"I never thought it would be at this stage. The structure is coming on really, really well.
"The outdoor pitch is ready to use.
It's spot-on, it's fantastic. It has a facility giving people the opportunity to play football
"It looks fabulous. We have already had a lot of interest in booking the facility when it opens. The response has been fantastic."
Bradford Council says the new complex will 'breathe new life' into the existing facilities at BEAP's site.
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