Blackburn Rovers Football Club and Blackburn Rovers Community Trust are pleased to announce the Indoor Centre will be undergoing a thorough refurbishment to modernise and improve the facility at Ewood Park.

The regionally recognised Indoor Centre has proven to be an important asset for the local community for more than two decades, with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors benefitting from the facilities available.

The Indoor Centre is owned by Blackburn Rovers Football Club; however, Blackburn Rovers Community Trust, the club’s official charity, fully operate the facility to run a wide range of projects and programmes targeted for people of all ages to have a positive impact on their lives.

Steeped in history and memories, the Indoor Centre, fondly known as the BRIC, was used by Sir Kenny Dalglish’s Premier League winning team as their training ground during the 1994-95 campaign. The football club’s Academy and Ladies team have also benefitted in the past by using the facility as a training venue.

However, due to the high volume of usage and the longevity of the building since it opened its doors nearly 30 years ago, the Club and the Community Trust identified an urgent need to modernise the Indoor Centre so it can continue to be an important community hub.

Refurbishment work will begin this week and is scheduled to take approximately four months to complete. During this time, the facility will be closed and all sessions and activities currently running from the Indoor Centre will be relocated to other venues in the borough. The facility’s car park will also be closed during this period.

To enable the refurbishment to take place, the Community Trust successfully applied and received a funding grant from the Premier League, The FA and the Government’s Football Foundation. Additionally, Blackburn with Darwen have also made a financial contribution towards the works.

Blackburn Rovers Community Trust Chief Executive, Gary Robinson, said: “This is an important step to achieve our strategic aims of further supporting our community with a significant refurbishment to our multi-purpose indoor facility.

“The Indoor Centre has been utilised by generations of our local community and I want to thank Blackburn Rovers Football Club and the Owners for agreeing to the terms and conditions of the grant from the Football Foundation to enable this to happen.

“Without their support, this wouldn’t be happening, and this important refurbishment signifies their commitment to support Blackburn Rovers Community Trust and our local community.

“Blackburn with Darwen Council have also played an important role by donating a significant figure to help with the refurbishment alongside the grant we have received from the Football Foundation.

“The redevelopment of the Indoor Centre will further help our team deliver quality sessions and continue the great work they are already doing daily within the Blackburn with Darwen area. This is a significant step forwards for Blackburn Rovers.”

Blackburn Rovers Chief Executive, Steve Waggott, added: “Our overall aim is to make Ewood Park a welcoming and inspiring destination for everyone in our community to visit both on a matchday and non-matchday.

“We know how important the Indoor Centre has been for many years. It was therefore a key strategic aim to ensure this continues to be a key community asset and after a lot of hard work and effort, we are delighted that we have secured the facility’s future with significant and required improvements now being made.

“Blackburn Rovers Football Club will always place itself at the heart of our community and the refurbishment of the Indoor Centre will allow us to continue to play our part as a community integrated organisation.”

Martin Winters, Head of Operations at Blackburn Rovers Community Trust, said: “The Indoor Centre is now sustainable and will receive the required upgrade so it can continue to be an important community asset.

“It will look fresh, modern and vibrant. We will have improved disability access, new changing rooms, improved lighting, new 4G surfaces on the pitches, new changing rooms and the building will be more environmentally friendly.

“We look forward to welcoming people back to the BRIC once the refurbishment is complete.”

Robert Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “This grant award to Blackburn Rovers FC and Blackburn Rovers Community Trust to refurbish their Indoor Centre is great news for the local community.

“The Football Foundation is working closely with our partners – the Premier League, The FA and Government – to support facility development projects like this across the country over the next decade to transform our grassroots game and unlock the power of pitches.”

Blackburn Rovers Indoor Centre to undergo significant refurbishment