How FWP Group is changing architectural design for the football industry

Mill Farm

The leading architectural, design and master planning practice, FWP Ltd, is a company that works on projects around the UK with the main office based in Preston, Lancashire with additional offices in Manchester and London.

The organisation’s direction is outlined by the examination of new objectives, development and knowledge, as well as the commitment to sustainability.

FWP Ltd offers services in Architecture, M&E Design, Structural Engineering, Interior Design, Building Surveying, Project Management, Quantity Surveying and CDM Consultancy.

In 2014, Blezard joined the FWP Group with their place of business operating out of Preston, it was established in 1960 and provides Building Engineering Services.

Blezard offers a variety of services to meet the needs of the clients such as Consulting Engineering, Services Management, Integrated Building and Energy Services.

By having vast amounts of wealth in experience covering refurbishment projects to the large scale new build developments across all sectors. Blezard is a team who brings knowledge and expertise in experience to the table to be able to align the current legislation and deliver the good practice necessary while demonstrating a firm grasp of the latest technologies, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability and cost management.

They embrace a driven philosophy of the construction process and stand by their belief in early consultation and involvement with the design team who helps achieve the successful delivery of all their projects.

TRP consulting are experts in supporting civil, structural and environmental engineering consultancy services, with a wide variety of knowledge bases and advancing towards a proactive project delivery.

The FWP Group provides an extensive range of skills that include:

  • Feasibility studies
  • Site surveys
  • Sketch, detailed and advanced design
  • Planning and building reg applications
  • Tender application
  • Detailed production information
  • CDM Co-ordination and Health and Safety
  • Interior design and 3D Visualisation

The organisation is a solutions-driven company that has frequently carried through successful outcomes eventuating in lasting and reliable connections with customers, consultants and contractors.

After eight years of work, a project that FWP has been involved in was to deliver a multi-million pound for the home stadium of AFC Fylde, Mill Farm. The impressive North Stand has a capacity of 1,850 and also includes a state-of-the-art fan zone with quality game day food and beverage facilities.

Working with the English club competing in the National League North alongside David Haythornthwaite, the plan was to shape the idea for the mixed-use development and created a special home for the squad and its faithful fans.

Hugely beneficial for the local community and its economy, FWP has worked hand in hand with the club throughout the process to generate a vibrant and exciting development for locals to enjoy.

The evolution of Mill Farm Sports Village was made feasible by the connected enabling projects, which include multiple established and vastly successful, commercial and industrial growth on the site that has already brought more than 200 permanent and 400 provisional jobs to the area.

The home ground of AFC Fylde incorporates a 290-capacity sports bar, 70 seater Italian restaurant that has an al fresco roof terrace, a café with a large conference room as well as facilities for an event and also a five-star hotel.

The architectural and design innovated company has collaborated with a host of football clubs, including non-league sides such as AFC Fylde, Hastings United and FC United of Manchester, the rejuvenation of Championship side Preston North End’s ground consists of income generated and community facilities such as a gym, headquarters of local charities, NHS centre along with educational and conferencing facilities.

One of the notable achievements of the FWP Group has been to successfully deliver $1.73 million refurbishment for Everton’s corporate hospitality facilities at Goodison Park, a significant part of the Merseyside club’s revenue stream. FWP has also carried out work for Manchester United.

The strategic advice and the wealth of knowledge in design as well as the capability to work to budgets have put FWP Group ahead in the industry by demonstrating it is crucial when sports clubs have a short supply of resources for their plans.

The understanding that a football stadium can lay out a variety of income-generated necessities and community uses proceeding with to play a major fragment in assisting clubs to successfully revitalise their grounds.

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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

The A-Leagues Final Series important status also a secret hinderance

The Isuzu A-League finals series is a huge event in the footballing calendar, though its contribution to stagnant attendance numbers in the league is something to be said.

If the 2025/26 finals series follows similar patterns to those before it, it will gather huge traction and strong ticket sales.

It is the largest event for the domestic league, bringing in massive amounts of viewership through media and gate receipts.

Finals series from years past have shown this, with the 2024/25 final, a Melbourne derby, being sold out within 48 hours and gathering significant viewership online.

The idea of a finals series lies within the Australian sporting ethos; the other sporting codes have had this tradition for most of their existence, especially in recent history.

Football, though, is different from the rest of the sporting codes in Australia, unique even. This has historically contributed to its inability to integrate into the same supported status as other codes.

Many in the Australian footballing community, supporter groups, players, coaches, and even the new Director of Football Australia, have voiced concerns over fan numbers in the league competition.

It wouldn’t be absurd to say that maybe, though profitable now, the finals series is actually taking away from the league itself.

Consider the media image: the league winner is called the “minor premiership,” and ticket sales and viewership figures reveal a huge disparity between the two parts of the A-League.

It must be said that an alternative that could work in unison with the league and possibly increase viewership of the league itself would be a great advantage.

It would allow the league to gain more jeopardy and drama, which could build greater interest in attending league games.

One alternative is already here.

No other sporting code in Australia has both a league competition and a cup competition. Football in Australia does.

The Hahn’s Australia Cup is our equivalent to the FA Cup in England or the Copa del Rey in Spain.

These are competitions that offer a finals option in a different competition entirely. They generate huge traction while never diminishing the importance of the league and, therefore, its popularity.

These cup competitions cannot be discussed without acknowledging some obvious differences.

They don’t face the same popularity issues that football does in Australia. It’s obvious the Hahn’s Australia Cup doesn’t yet gain the traction that the finals series does.

However, for a healthy footballing environment with increasing fan numbers, it should.

The idea of elevating the Hahn’s Australia Cup and scaling back the finals series is a complex question, one that is treated like a “no-go zone” by many in the Australian footballing community, and that is understandable.

Though big changes like this might, in the end, be credible options for the future of the sport in this country.

Larger plans must be set in motion, strategies that can be worked towards and refined along the way. It is the process by which all large organisations, business models and even national governments build their strategies.

Such a shift will be scrutinised and pushed back against.

Though with further fine-tuning and smart investment in development, not to mention the introduction of promotion and relegation and the possibility of changing the footballing calendar.

It could replicate the success that these two-competition models already enjoy in other leagues.

The added importance that the premiership would gain, the reality that every game matters, could alongside other strategies entice fans to more games, increase viewership and ticket sales, and create more dedicated fan bases. It works in other nations, very well in fact.

The possibility of two teams lifting a trophy, rather than one single event defining it all, sounds like a strategy that could deliver more engagement over longer periods of time.

Maybe Australian football doesn’t need to answer this question just yet. It is complex, difficult and it would require a great deal of work, including significant investment into the game, which is another issue entirely.

Yet as low attendance numbers persist in the A-League, even alongside increased media viewership, something needs to change for football in Australia.

The rise in popularity of this game and its dedicated community deserves bold ideas and forward thinking.

Ideas like this could eventually begin to change the landscape of the beautiful game in Australia for the better.

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