Inside Brentford’s new Robert Rowan Performance Centre

BRENTFORD Director of Football Phil Giles says the club’s new Robert Rowan Performance Centre, which opened in December, has “changed the perception” of the club.

The Performance Centre is situated in the club’s training ground in Osterley and is likely to be in operation for up to five years, before a permanent 'state-of-the-art' facility is opened.

This too will be named in honour of Rowan, Brentford’s former Technical Director, who died of heart failure in November 2018 at the age of just 28. The Scot had worked for the club for almost four years.

The temporary Performance Centre has been built by Portakabin, the UK’s market leader in the manufacture and construction of modular buildings, in partnership with Ardent Sports and Fuse Architects. Portakabin have now released photos of the centre and a walk-through video (which you can watch below), as well as details of the build.

Players exit the changing rooms and go out onto the training pitches in the same way they would at the Gtech Community Stadium. The Under-18s facility is at the end of a corridor, meaning young development players get to pass the first and B team facilities, “understanding what they must achieve to make it to that level.”

A “bespoke roof terrace” has also been completed, so that corporate sponsors and guests can "experience training sessions from the best possible viewpoint,” and a specialist non-slip resin has been put in place on it to replicate wood.

Brentford Director of Football Giles said: “Our new Performance Centre, named after our former colleague and friend Robert Rowan, has vastly improved the day-to-day working conditions for our players and staff.

“We wanted a building that would enable us to provide our players and staff with Premier League facilities. Portakabin have delivered that.

“We had a vision of a building that would enable our players and staff to work together closely. We wanted to raise the level of what we could offer, while, at the same time, maintaining the atmosphere and togetherness that has been present for many years and helped us climb the league.

“Our staff worked with a project team to create a design for the new building and Portakabin have made it a reality for us. We have seen in the faces of staff, players and visitors that this new building has changed the perception of Brentford FC and we are delighted with it.”

Angela Lewis, Hire Manager for Portakabin, said: “Everyone involved in this project felt a huge affinity with the aspirations of the design. The bespoke nature of the architect and the club’s vision allowed us to really stretch ourselves from a delivery point of view.

“It was an intense project to work on but the team really dug deep; from our specialist groundworks contractors to our interiors team – everyone went the extra mile.”

Tony Blanchard, Regional Manager for Portakabin, added: “The speed at which we moved on this job meant if you blinked, you missed a milestone – it was phenomenal.

“Starting on site in May and handing over in November for the official opening in December is unheard of in a project this size and scale. Buildings like this happen once in a lifetime. The openness, honestly and collaboration we were able to exercise with Ardent and the club meant it was a success – it’s not every day you get to work in such an agile way with an exciting client such as Brentford.”

The temporary Performance Centre was granted planning permission on June 30th by Hounslow Council and this was then approved by the Mayor of London.

Rowan’s father, Chris, who officially opened the Centre, said: “I sit and watch all of Brentford’s games on TV with a picture of Robert beside me, both of us cheering them on. To hear that their new performance centre will carry Robert’s name fills me and all of our family with so much pride."