FA chair David Bernstein has officially opened a new third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch at the ARK Academy, Wembley.

To help mark the occasion, boys and girls from the ARK Academy took part in a training session lead by QPR’s community coaches. The pitch - installed by Smith Construction (Heckington) for clients Willmott Dixon - was made possible thanks to a Football Foundation grant of £229,136.

It will assist with the delivery of ARK Academy’s commitment to provide an extensive range of curriculum sports, help cater for after school programmes and facilitate a comprehensive community use timetable. Within curriculum time the facility will eventually be used by 1,600 school users, principally for football but also other PE activities. Eventually it will host inter and intra school tournaments and become a host venue for feeder primary schools to deliver small sided football training and matches.

The new pitch means that the school will be able to introduce eight new school teams by 2012 and deliver a number of school coaching courses. In addition, the new pitch will provide AFC Wembley with a suitable training facility and will help the club increase the number of teams it currently provides for.

The site will also become home to a number of other local football teams, with the majority having been consulted throughout the application process and already factored into the programme of use. Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the government (via Sport England), the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity. Launched in July 2000, the Foundation has so far supported around 8,000 community sports projects worth £945m.

Image: Football Foundation CEO, Paul Thorogood (left), FA Chairman David Bernstein (centre) and ARK Academy Principal, Delia Smith (right) celebrate the opening of ARK Academy's 3G pitch with pupils