The Greatness pavilion cost £2,130,154 and opened on 18 September, top floor and all. Who paid for each part, who built it, and the playground next.

Updated 27 September 2026: the centre was finished on schedule and officially opened on Friday 18 September; our report of the opening is here. The funding figures below are the town council’s final ones, which put the club’s share £2,454 higher than the August figures this story first carried.

The Greatness Football and Community Centre was built to schedule and fully fitted out, Sevenoaks Town Council said in August, a month before it opened. The building is a joint project between the town council and Sevenoaks Town Football Club, and the funding raised to build it totals £2,130,154. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Town Clerk’s Update, 21 August 2026 (PDF); opening booklet, September 2026 (PDF))

The town clerk, Linda Larter MBE, also confirmed something the project did not start out expecting to afford. “When we started the project, we thought we would only have the funds to finish off the ground floor, and the top floor would remain a carcass for later refurbishment,” she wrote. “Prudent overseeing of the project has enabled the building to be fully completed.”

Who paid for it

None of the money is council tax raised for the building itself. The largest single contribution is the Community Infrastructure Levy, the charge Sevenoaks District Council collects from developers and spends on local infrastructure.

Bar chart of who paid for the Greatness Football and Community Centre: Sevenoaks District Council Community Infrastructure Levy £787,500; Football Foundation £759,100; Sevenoaks Town Council £221,100; Sevenoaks Town Football Club £212,454; Premier League Stadium Fund £150,000, totalling £2,130,154
Chart by Sevenoaks Online
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The final breakdown, as printed in the council’s opening booklet, is:

  • Sevenoaks District Council Community Infrastructure Levy: £787,500
  • Football Foundation: £759,100
  • Sevenoaks Town Council: £221,100
  • Sevenoaks Town Football Club: £212,454 (£210,000 in the August figures), on top of £200,000 the club spent during the development stage
  • Premier League Stadium Fund: £150,000

(Sevenoaks Town Council, Greatness Recreation Ground Community Sports Pavilion)

Longley was the main contractor, Offset Architects designed the building and Academy Consulting also worked on the project, the booklet says. It also thanks 19 local businesses and individuals who gave support, among them Howdens, Ripleys Garden Centre, Premier Alarms and S.G Plumbing and Heating.

The Football Foundation money, which comes from the Premier League, the FA and the Government, was approved on 17 June 2025, the club said at the time. (Sevenoaks Town FC, club news, Major funding boost for new Greatness Football and Community Pavilion)

What is in the building

The pavilion is the football club’s clubhouse, but the council has been explicit that it is not only that. It contains:

  • modern male and female changing rooms
  • a kitchen, plus café and refreshment areas
  • a small gym
  • an air source heat pump, a living green wall and a photovoltaic system

The town council separately funded the solar roof panels, the heat source pump, EV charging points and cycle stands, which it ties to its Green Infrastructure Plan. The old pavilion is to be released for future community use.

The contractor’s own progress reports

The council published the builder’s weekly stakeholder report. It is an unusually plain record of how a public project is actually going.

Longley’s report for the week ending 14 August 2026, five weeks before the opening, records no health and safety issues. On the schedule it says: “The programme has been reviewed, and we are currently on programme.” Under early warnings and delays it says: “No early warnings to report on site.”

By that week the report had these trades finished:

  • painting, complete across the site
  • electrical and mechanical, complete and off site
  • floor laying, finished on the internal staircase
  • roofing, with the waterproof system done on the external staircase
  • the green wall’s irrigation system and planting frame, installed

What was left was short. The report lists a handrail, door signage, landscaping, the car park and the green wall planting. It adds: “Once these works are complete, this will close out all outstanding works on the project.” (Longley, Weekly Stakeholder Snapshot, Greatness Pavilion, 14 August 2026 (PDF))

A new playground and outdoor gym alongside it

A second, separate project is replacing the play area and outdoor gym at Greatness and moving both closer to the new pavilion. That scheme costs £250,000, of which £100,000 is a Community Infrastructure Levy grant.

The design was put to a public vote. Nine options went out through online and paper surveys and face to face at community events, and children from local primary schools gave their views on a site visit. The winning designs, both from the playground supplier KOMPAN, took more than 25 per cent of the votes for the playground and 46 per cent for the gym.

The chosen playground includes a zipline, a trampoline, a climbing net, swings, a roundabout and a sensory play area, on an animal theme. The gym is wheelchair accessible and uses variable-resistance equipment with a companion app. The existing gym has been in place for about fifteen years and an earlier consultation had already identified it as needing replacement.

Cllr Dr Peter Dixon, chair of the town council’s Community Asset Committee, said: “Thanks to everyone who took part in Sevenoaks Town Council’s consultations for our new playground and outdoor gym at Greatness. The feedback we received helped us to select the final designs and ensures the new facilities reflect the needs of our local community.” (Sevenoaks Town Council, Greatness Recreation Ground Playground and Gym)

The car park is being improved as part of the same work, and the council says additional planting will follow in the autumn.

Who uses Greatness

Sevenoaks Town FC is a registered charity, number 1137673, and a grassroots club rather than a professional one. Its own published figures give 1,027 youth players and 121 youth girls players, alongside 66 male and 52 female adult players, 23 players in its inclusive teams and 25 in walking football. It runs youth, girls and women’s, disability and well-being sides as well as a men’s first team. (Sevenoaks Town FC)

What it means for residents

Greatness Recreation Ground is a public open space, not a members’ ground. The council has framed the whole scheme as an upgrade to the park rather than to the football club alone. For anyone who uses it, that means:

  • a new play area, moved closer to the pavilion, which the council says it will install this autumn
  • a new outdoor gym, replacing one about fifteen years old
  • an improved car park, with more planting due in the autumn
  • a café and refreshment areas that did not previously exist there, now open
  • the old pavilion, freed up for other community uses

The building itself is done. The playground, outdoor gym and landscaping are the next phase: the council’s opening release says they will go in “this autumn”, but it has published no start or finish date for them. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Greatness Football & Community Centre officially opened, 21 September 2026)

The paperwork is all public. Weekly construction reports going back to October 2025 still sit on the council’s pavilion page. The chosen playground and gym designs are linked from its playground page.

For what else is on locally over the next few weeks, see things to do in Sevenoaks. The Community Infrastructure Levy that paid the largest share here comes from development elsewhere in the district; our guide to Sevenoaks planning applications explains how to follow those schemes through the council’s portal.

Sources

Image: Sevenoaks FC, Greatness Recreation Ground, by Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr. Chart by Sevenoaks Online.