Manchester engineering consultancy SGi Shepherd Gilmour has been appointed to work on the new home of Burton Rugby Club and on the redevelopment of their existing site into a new retail park in the town.

The new 40-acre site will be much larger than the club’s current base and provide a multi-sport facility with eight rugby pitches, including training facilities for senior and junior teams, adjacent to superb changing room accommodation, with bar and hospitality suite, and designated car park.

The work by SGi Shepherd Gilmour will also trigger Burton Rugby Club’s move away from Peel Croft -where it has been based for over 100 years and adjacent to the 400-acre Branston Locks area of Burton on Trent.

Birmingham-based Nurton Developments instructed the civil, structural and environmental engineering consultancy to develop Branston Locks which is located next to Burton Rugby Club’s new home, and enabling works to facilitate both developments is currently ongoing onsite.

Paul Tolley Director of Development Portfolio Management Ltd said: “Burton Rugby Club’s new multi-sport site is great news for the club. The facilities will deliver better conditions for training and extra space so the mini/juniors can grow, with dedicated changing rooms for adults, mini/juniors, and ladies/girls, so enabling them to play sport at the same time.

“Currently there is very limited club car park for fans. Providing this along with a new club house and stand is a great boost and clearly shows it’s the right decision for the club to move to Branston Locks.”

Emyr Jones, owner and managing director of SGI Shepherd Gilmour, said: “I’m delighted SGi Shepherd Gilmour has been instructed to work on Burton Rugby Club’s new home. We’ve worked on Branston Locks for 25 years and have been integral in creating a site which boosts the East Midlands Growth Corridor.”

He added: “I’m a keen rugby fan so it’s great for me to see that the club now has space to grow. There have been problems with the current training facilities as it is prone to flooding. But soon there will be a state of the art club house, a brand new stand, along with a car park for fans and new pitches and training space for the players and mini-juniors.”