Under Academy Director, Steve Heighway and a full-time staff of 18, the Academy will provide coaching for children aged 8 upwards and scholarships for boys in the 16-21 age group.

The 45 acre site includes ten grass pitches, three of them floodlit, and a synthetic pitch with its own floodlighting and stand. The two storey 'Operations Centre' contains administrative offices, class rooms, a lecture theatre, changing facilities, a state of the art medical and physiotherapy centre, hydrotherapy pool, seminar and dining facilities.

"The Operations Centre was designed to give a light airy feeling with maximum use of natural light and ventilation", explains Philip Rowe of the Design Consultancy section of Knowsley Borough Council, which provided architectural and consultancy services for the project. First floor areas have an open ceiling with exposed steelwork and ductwork.

MEM is unique amongst UK electrical manufacturers in its ability to offer a full range of electrical installation equipment from the main switchboard to the socket outlet. Lorne Stewart, electrical contractor for the Academy, took advantage of this by sourcing distribution boards, isolator switches and wiring accessories, together with a lighting dimming system for the main lecture theatre, from MEM.

MEM's brushed stainless steel wiring accessories suited the overall aesthetics of the interior, offering a smart, modern durable finish. Switches are from the Supergrid 8000 grid switch range and range from a single gang to 24 gang units. These match the other wiring accessories (socket-outlets, telephone and data outlets etc.) which are from the MEM Stainless Steel range.

A plug-in lighting system, using MEM Litelink luminaire supporting couplers (LSCs), is used throughout the building to facilitate maintenance. Luminaires can be disconnected from the supply, safely without switching off the circuit. In some areas the Litelink units are mounted on trunking within a ceiling void; in the open ceiling areas, Lorne Stewart engineers positioned them discretely to be out of the line of sight.

Electrical distribution throughout the site is provided by MEM distribution boards. The Operations Centre has eight Memshield 2 triple pole and neutral (TPN) miniature circuit breaker (MCB) distribution boards, ranging from four to 16 ways, for lighting and general power distribution. Another four distribute power in other buildings on the site. In addition, an MEM Exel 200A six way distribution fuseboard serves the external lighting.

Memshield 2 is a modern range of MCB distribution boards offering a high specification with compact dimensions and a high level of insulation. They are available in 125A and 200A versions with 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 24 ways.

MEM triple pole and neutral isolator switches provide isolation of various large items of electrical plant throughout the installation.

"This was an interesting and unique job for Lorne Stewart. The Memshield 2 boards and brushed stainless steel accessories matched the high specification of the project" says Alun Bunday, Contracts Engineer with Lorne Stewart.

Main contractor for the Liverpool Soccer Academy was John Mowlem and M&E services consultant was Terry and Partners.