The Clubhouse Project

The Railway Arches on Millwall Park

Page Last Updated : 30/03/2009

FINAL SETS OF PHOTOS NOW UPLOADED - CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Finished ...

That's the end of the updates during the build process - I hope you have enjoyed following the changes and that these will become an 'archive' for future Millwall members to look back at what we all went through to get the clubhouse we have now.

Huge thanks go to Dave Webb and the employees and contractors of J C Webb Ltd who moaned like bitches but really came to love the place too, and often did much more than they needed to to make the place extra special.

Jim Elphick and Nick from "MDF Cut to Size" who built the bar were hard to get in to finish the thing but have left us with a monument strong enough to survive a nuclear war but good looking enough to grace any top nightspot.

Thanks also to our friends at the Island Gardens DLR station and to Terry and his team of mechanics at the next door Abtech Garage. Without their co-operation and understanding through difficult times we would certainly not have reached completion so soon.

As a last word, I must also thank the countless club volunteers who have helped me at every stage. There were certainly some dark times, when it looked like it would never get finished, but it is a credit to the club membership that help was provided on every occasion that it was needed and we can truly say that 'we built this together'.

Mike Costin, Clubhouse Project Co-ordinator - March 30th, 2009

LOTS OF PHOTOS UPLOADED - CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Phase 1 was the clearing and cleaning stage, substantially finished early this year.

Phase 2 was the building of temporary toilets and kitchen facilities in arch 2, completed in March and April this year. This was necessary for the temporary bar installed in the early summer.

Phase 3 is the building work that took the larger arch forward to the point where it was substantially completed. This (in theory) included getting all mains utilities in, digging new drains for the new toilets , installing the under floor heating and the new floor itself plus building all the new walls and doorways required. Above ground level all the electrical fittings got rewired and sockets put in properly, windows replaced and the sagging roof near the back door got properly supported. The proper bar was built in the larger arch and the current kitchen was temporarily reassembled elsewhere in the same arch, so we could continue to use both during the further works. The donated air conditioning units were planned to also be installed.

Phase 4 saw the focus of the building work shift back into the smaller arch, where the temporary plasterboarding on the walls and the wooden floor was be removed and replaced. Walls, doorways, ventilation, electricals and water piping went in to support the new kitchen and toilets that now occupy the space. The kitchen was installed as close to a commercial kitchen as we could afford and the ladies washroom was finished to a very high standard.

The things we still need (or need help with) are...

Jersey framing. We can get frames (with perspex 'glass') 24" wide by 34" high - could you fix some of our jerseys so we can display them on the walls of the clubhouse? We have all the various tour jerseys and the previous designs for the main Millwall playing kit through the years - it would really help brighten up the clubhouse!

LOTS OF PHOTOS UPLOADED - CLICK HERE TO VIEW

LOTS OF PHOTOS UPLOADED - CLICK HERE TO VIEW

We have arches 1 & 2 (marked 0040 and 0050 on the plan below). As you can see from the plan below, Arch 1 (labelled 0400 on the diagram) is twice the depth (about 8 metres) of the other arches and extends behind Arch 2.

The lease is for 15 years. It is not automatically renewable (i.e. the council retains the right not to offer to renew it once the 15 years are up) although, of course, we expect the clubhouse to be such a success that removing it would become unthinkable!

Full detailed plans can be viewed (as a pdf) here

THE TERMS OF THE LEASE ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL MEMBERS TO READ - simply email mike@millwallrugby.com and ask for a copy.

Please, don't wait to be asked - your help is needed now so offer it now by emailing clubhouse@millwallrugby.com .