| James Whatman Way | |
|---|---|
| Location | Maidstone, England, United Kingdom |
| Broke ground | September 2011 |
| Opened | August 2012 (scheduled) |
| Owner | Maidstone United Ground Ltd. |
| Operator | Maidstone United F.C. |
| Surface | 3G Artificial Turf |
| Construction cost | £1.6 million (projected) |
| Architect | Prime Group |
| Project Manager | Prime Group |
| General Contractor | Gallagher Group |
| Capacity | 3,000 (300 seats) |
| Tenants | |
| Maidstone United | |
James Whatman Way is the project name for the new stadium of Maidstone United, an English football team who currently play their home games at Bourne Park, Sittingbourne. Construction of the stadium began in September 2011[1] and is expected to be completed by August 2012.[2]
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The stadium will initially consist of a 3rd generation artificial pitch, a seated main stand, two covered terraces, a club house, changing rooms, floodlights and parking. It will be a modular build, meaning the current capacity of 3,000 can be easily increased with the expansion of the three stands. The club house also has the option of being expanded with the building of a second floor.
Rather than the traditional choice of grass, Maidstone will be the first English team to build a stadium with 3rd generation artificial turf.[3] The reasons for going with 3G turf were twofold, the first being to eliminate match postponements caused by waterlogging and freezing conditions, and the second is so that the pitch can be hired out, bringing in vital funds for the club.
A major downside of the 3G pitch is that so far the club has only gained permission to use the pitch in the Isthmian League and the FA Trophy. The club have yet to receive permission to use the pitch for matches in the FA Cup and Football Conference (Conference National / North & South). Maidstone would be able to play FA Cup matches at a neutral venue or the home ground of their opponents but promotion to the Football Conference would not be possible until permission is granted from the league or the 3G turf is replaced with grass.
There will be stands on the north, east and south sides of the pitch. The west side will feature hard standing only due to a water pipe underneath meaning no building can take place unless the pipe is moved.
North Stand: The North end will provide covered terracing for 500 spectators, and can be reserved for away supporters when segregation is required.
East Stand: The Main stand will be on the Eastern side of the ground and will include 300 spectator seats, six wheelchair bays with accompanying seats for carers, eight media seats, two corporate/sponsor boxes and a directors box. The stand will be situated 1.5 metres above pitch level.
South Stand: The South end of the ground will provide a covered terrace for 250 supporters as well as being where the changing rooms, medical room and storage room will be installed. There will be an extendible tunnel and movable barriers for players and officials to make their way to and from the pitch.
The ground's clubhouse will be located at the South East corner of the stadium. It will be able to hold 390 people when standing and 190 when all seated.
Floodlights cannot be installed on one side of the ground due to the narrow nature of the site and restrictions from the authorities. However floodlights will be installed that reach the level needed at the Football League's League One and Two.
If and when expansion is required in the future, then the stadium capacity can be increased to a maximum of 7,000 and will be of a standard suitable for league football.
After reforming in 1992 (the original Maidstone United sold their stadium in 1988 and moved into Dartford's ground, a move that eventually saw the club go out of business), Maidstone played in the Kent County League Division 4 with their home games taking place where the original clubs old training pitch had been situated, at London Road, near Allington. The club worked their way through the Kent County League and were promoted to the Kent League Premier Division in 2001. However the current ground was nowhere near Kent League standards - so the club elected to groundshare with Sittingbourne while they tried to engineer a move to their preferred site for a new stadium in Maidstone at James Whatman Way. Numerous legal disputes and even a colony of Great Crested Newts at Whatman Way delayed the clubs attempts to get permission to build the ground, however in 2004 the club finally made its first steps towards returning to their home town when an application for planning permission to build a stadium at James Whatman Way was unanimously accepted.[4]
However, no real work could begin until the lease to acquire the ground from its owners the Ministry of Defence was signed. After yet more red tape was surpassed the lease was finally signed in March 2006.[5] Despite Maidstone now having the green light to start construction, there were questions over the clubs ability to finance the stadium and almost a year passed before some preliminary work took place in January 2007.[6] Unfortunately no significant inroads were made and soon the site became overgrown and disused, with no construction taking place . In the summer of 2008, with no movement at Whatman Way since the initial work and Maidstone suffering financial problems, it was decided the club were unable to fund the ground themselves and a bid was placed for a £1.2 million grant from the Football Foundation to build the stadium. However the bid was turned down.[7] This came as a massive blow, and after this the new stadium took a back seat as all funds were focussed on keeping the club afloat.
A change of club ownership in October 2010 saw a renewed attempt to move to the stadium.[8] A new company named Maidstone United Ground Ltd was formed to deal solely with stadium matters, and in January 2011 the club announced its plans to raise £1.6 million by May 2011 to build the ground. The main bulk of raised cash was anticipated to come from outside parties who would be investing in Maidstone United Ground Ltd rather than the football club itself. The decision to keep investors money away from the football club was made to "offer investors the incentive of a substantial and tangible asset (the stadium) and to isolate them from the risks inherent from a football club business". By June 2011 the club had raised £1 million towards building the ground[2] and had purchased the lands freehold outright from the Ministry of Defence, and although the full £1.6M had not been raised, the club decided it was now time to go ahead with the construction of the stadium.[9]
After some preliminary work taking place throughout August 2011[10], full construction of the stadium began on September 26 2011.[11]
The stadium will be situated on a former Royal Engineers drilling site at James Whatman Way, close to Maidstone's town centre and next to the River Medway. It is also a short walk from the Fremlin Walk shopping centre and the 18-acre (73,000 m2) Whatman Park, and is adjacent to the Invicta Rowing Club and the Kent Library and History Centre.[12]
The site is close to two motorways, the M20 and the M2. It is under a five minutes drive from the M20 junction 6 and is ten minutes from the M2 junction 3. The ground is also a five minute walk from Maidstone East railway station (Maidstone East Line), and is also within walking distance of both Maidstone Barracks and Maidstone West stations (Medway Valley Line).
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