New Facilities fitted for Stow FC the Heart of the Community

Enhancing Stow FC fans’ enjoyment of the beautiful game

At the heart of every community is a football club. Portable Space is based in Suffolk, where one of our local teams is Stowmarket Town FC, otherwise known as Stow FC.

Stowmarket Town Football Club spectators now have new toilet facilities, designed and installed by Portable Space.

In the later months of 2021, club director Nigel Jarvis got in touch. Stowmarket Town had recently been promoted to the North Division of the Isthmian League and had plans to provide fans, players and officials with better facilities.

Nigel explained that the club planned to provide three new buildings. A new toilet block was the first priority, with facilities for men, women and people with disabilities. This part of the project needed to cover clearing the existing site and hiring temporary toilets whilst the new block was designed, built and installed.

Now the building is fully operational, we look forward to working with the club on phase two: a building with both a changing room for officials and a treatment room. Then a possible phase three would provide showering and changing facilities for home and away teams.

The national game is close to our hearts at Portable Space. We’re big supporters of grassroots football in the region and have firmly-established partnerships with both the Suffolk FA and the Essex FA. We’re the proud sponsors of the Suffolk Senior Reserve Cup, and offer storage containers for all Suffolk FA affiliated clubs at preferential rates.

Nigel’s suggestion that we provide a tender package quotation for his proposed development at the club was our kind of challenge. We were keen to get the ball rolling, and in late 2021, we submitted our quote.

We supplied plans, sections, elevations, and site layouts. This would enable Nigel to apply for planning permission for each building as and when required.

A meeting with Nigel a few days later went well and we surveyed the site. In early 2022 we were awarded the contract.

We removed the cabins that month. Until the new, permanent toilets could be delivered, Stow FC hired three blocks of two toilets from Portable Space. We connected these temporary toilets to the mains and dealt with all plumbing and pipework.

To prepare the site, we removed the existing cabins that were on the grounds. We also assisted with the design of the concrete ramp to the new toilet block, ensuring the correct gradients were achieved and maintained for wheel chair access.

On the 19th of July we delivered and installed the new toilet block then the branded toilet stickers were applied to the doors and the building was officially up and running.

“From Stow’s point of view the new facilities provided has not only met with the leagues approval, more importantly we feel they are really enhancing the overall matchday experience. We have a number a fans with disabilities that are truly benefiting from the new toilet blocks. The feedback received from the fans and staff alike has all been extremely positive. We welcome the opportunity to once again partner with Portable Space to further enhance our stadium in the near future.” – Doug French, Director of Stowmarket Football Club.