Everton Stadium’s dramatic rise from a water-filled, semi-derelict dock is providing the foundations for a bright future.

And the building blocks of the stunning addition to the city skyline have been constructed in a similarly solid fashion, around 120 miles from their final, picturesque destination on the banks of the River Mersey.

Explore Manufacturing is a subsidiary of main construction partner, Laing O’Rourke, and operates the company’s Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction.

Nestled in the greenery of the Nottinghamshire countryside, just west of Worksop, it is Europe’s most advanced facility for manufacturing concrete construction products.

The factory, which sits on a 215-acre site, opened in 2009 and today employs around 500 people – the vast majority from the local area. Since it opened, the team there have manufactured components to help deliver more than 350 major building and infrastructure projects all over the UK.

Everton Stadium, however, is the first football stadium that the factory has manufactured a range of standard and bespoke products for.

And there is a genuine pride - and wonderment - at seeing the fruits of their highly-skilled labour admired by the legions of Everton fans, industry peers… and even the workers themselves!

Jamie Slatter – CEMC Operations Manager at Explore, said: “This is the first dedicated football stadium we’ve built using truly modern methods, so it’s very much a benchmark and there are certainly far more emotional ties than on some other projects.

“We have plenty of football fans who work here, so it’s a hugely relatable project for people to become invested in.

“It’s a project that will appear on Match of the Day and Sky Sports, so there are plenty of stories that our workers will be able to tell their friends and family about and say: ‘I made that’.

“We’re just so proud to be involved. We’ve pioneered modern methods of construction, which is at the centre of the Laing O’Rourke operating model and manufactured products here that are delivered just-in-time and erected on-site, 120 miles away, at a huge rate, so seeing the fruits of our labour is superb.”

Almost all of the concrete core of Everton Stadium – around 3,500 structural components – including twin walls, columns, beams and lattices, are manufactured under carefully monitored conditions by the Explore Manufacturing team.

The 731 brick facades that clad the stadium and tie it firmly into its industrial surroundings at Bramley-Moore Dock are also manufactured in the factory, using a diverse, highly-skilled workforce aided by cutting-edge technology.

And Worksop resident Jamie, who has an added investment in the stadium as an Everton season ticket holder, believes the stadium is being delivered using the highest standards possible.

He added: “I think we set the bar above the industry standard, both in terms of the breadth and different type of product that we manufacture. From my experience, that sets us apart from everybody else.

“We set ourselves high standards that we am to deliver upon to achieve, not only on the new Everton Stadium, but on everything we manufacture.

“Modern methods of construction is at the centre of that, in that we are able to manufacture elements that get erected on site in a highly sustainable fashion, saving time and waste, increasing quality and with safety in mind.

“A lot of the structural components are at the cutting edge of technology in terms of automation, but we have also got a really good skilled labour force, around 85% of whom live within 20 miles of the factory.

“In terms of the brick panels, for instance, each one will have been laid into the correct position, with the right pattern, so we have the right blend of technology and labour.”

Jamie, who started work on the project three years ago using a detailed, digital model of the stadium to design and manufacture every component needed, added: “Back then, it was just a concept and, as an Everton fan, being at the cutting edge and seeing all the models and then watching it rise on the banks of the River Mersey, has been fantastic.

“It’s absolutely massive for me. Everton Stadium is one of 15-20 projects we have going through the factory at the moment, but this is certainly the apple of my eye and I have tried to get up to site as often as I can to see it.

“It’s breathtaking and I look forward to the day I can take my wife and my dad there and show them what we’ve been working on for the past three or four years.

“The pride that I will get, as an Evertonian, is huge. I’ve been going to Goodison for 35 years, so it will be a sad moment when we leave, but what a great stadium we will have for the future and for future generations.

“Hundreds of thousands of Evertonians are going to be walking through these walls, manufactured in Worksop, so what a buzz we’ll get from that!”