Brickfields FAQs

Plymouth Argyle Football Club, the Argyle Community Trust (which is the club’s official charity), Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Albion RFC and Devonport Community Leisure Ltd have come together to rejuvenate this under-used site. 

The proposals to redevelop the Brickfields site were granted permission by Plymouth City Council earlier this year. As part of the plans, we are delivering: 

• An improved set of playing pitches including three grass football pitches 
• A new rugby/football artificial pitch for the use of the community and Plymouth Albion RFC on the site of the existing grass rugby training pitch 
• A new purpose-built Academy building, including classrooms, office space for Academy staff, changing rooms, a gym, and a parents’ lounge  
• A permanent home of the Argyle Women’s first-team 
• A new floodlit 3G football pitch to replace a poor condition (currently closed) hockey pitch   
• A new, covered 3G football pitch 
• Refurbishment of the existing 60m x 40m rubber crumb pitch and creation of a 30 x 20m ‘Play Zone’, exclusively for community use through Argyle Community Trust 
• Improvements to landscaping and planting, site access, public areas and parking

Fully mitigating the impact on existing sports use at Brickfields is key to ensuring success of the Brickfields projects for current and new users. To allow for the state-of-the-art facilities it was not possible to retain the large hockey and pétanque pitches on site and ensure a safe, welcoming and well considered design.  

The reprovision of hockey and pétanque facilities was developed through Plymouth City Council in collaboration with key stakeholders. The Pétanque facilities have been created at Stonehouse Creek and opened for the club in August 2024. The hockey facilities are being provided at Stoke Damerel Community College and work has begun to provide these new pitches in September 2024.

The plans to turn the sports centre into an exciting new community hub are now coming forward with the building now under construction. This will deliver: 

• Soft play zone  
• Café and lounge 
• Licenced bar 
• Commercial kitchen 
• Health hub 
• Esports 
• Youth zone 
• Gym 
• Five multi-use rooms including studio space 
• Sports hall with lowered ceiling height to enable the introduction of a mezzanine floor 

Argyle Community Trust, the official charitable partner of Plymouth Argyle Football Club will manage this. The Trust has a proud and successful history of managing and delivering community facilities and provisions, including currently operating Manadon Sports and Community Hub in the north of the city, along with Central Park Sports Hub.  

Work is continuing on the community hub building. While good progress is being made, some delays to the schedule mean this is now expected to open in January 2025. 

The construction of the outdoor areas is expected to take between 18 months and two years. Completion of the project will be phased from late 2025 into early 2026. More details will be available closer to the time.

Site setup and enabling works will begin in late September 2024 before construction begins in late October. Ecological work including installation of bird and bat boxes has been brought forward to before the construction work fully begins, to prepare the habitat for the next season. 

Operating hours for construction on site are: 

• Monday – Friday: 8am – 6pm 
• Saturday: 8am – 1pm 
• Sundays/Bank holidays: No work

We are working closely with the contractors to ensure a safe and considerate approach to works. 

The construction teams will implement measures to prioritise safety and minimise disruption to residents. These include: 

• Traffic marshals to coordinate deliveries to site 
• Deliveries to site will be consolidated where possible to reduce the number of vehicles 
• Deliveries will keep to agreed delivery routes and avoid peak hours where possible 
• Road sweeper to reduce dust 
• Noise, dust and vibration monitors will be installed across the site and regularly checked  
• Access to site will be via the existing Madden Road entrance to ensure traffic is away from Stoke Damerel Primary School 

A full Construction Management Plan has been submitted to Plymouth City Council to support the creation of a safe environment for residents and staff.

Access to site has been carefully considered and will be via the existing Madden Road entrance to ensure traffic is away from Stoke Damerel Primary School. 

We understand the importance of parking to ensure you can access the site easily. That is why we are retaining the car park where it is. The car park has been redesigned to improve safety and will provide approximately 120 spaces, including nine accessible spaces. Of these, a minimum of 40 of these spaces will be free for community users at all times. 

The car park will be partially closed for the duration of the construction phase, but full closures will be limited as much as possible. This means that there will be changes to parking on match days and Plymouth Albion RFC has announced new match day parking arrangements. More information will be available in due course. 

A dedicated communications team are engaged throughout the project to ensure that residents are updated regularly on works. Communication channels will be updated throughout the works and a monthly e-newsletter will be sent to everyone signed up. 

Communication updates and contact details can be found on the project website, where you can sign up to the mailing list.