THE new-look County Ground will be a “traditional” redevelopment which creates “24-7” income for the club, according to the man heading up the project.

In an exclusive interview with the Advertiser, David Robinson, managing partner of the Frank Whittle Partnership, said he hopes to use Preston North End’s Deepdale stadium as an influence - both in terms of design and facilities.

The Championship side’s home not only retained a sense of character and identity when it was rebuilt, but also plays home to the National Football Museum, a health centre, an outside catering business, a college outreach centre, club offices and a public gym.

All of those generate much-needed income for the club, something Robinson believes is vital in these tough economic times, and the project management firm will work with Town to help find occupants for the County Ground.

“In terms of the Preston scheme, a health authority facility is located there which generates a significant rent,” he explained.

“I won’t go in to figures, but one stand was paid for entirely by the rent from that.

“I suppose maybe we are a bit different in the fact that we help find renters. A lot of companies in our line of business look to just come in and design things rather than identify what should go in it.

“You need that 24-7 activity around the ground, with other companies and organisations using it, and rent being paid to the football club.

“Quite rightly, Swindon don’t want to saddle themselves with large debts through this redevelopment, and so need an income of regular rent. We will help them find that.”

Town chairman Andrew Fitton has made no secret of his intention to develop the County Ground in phases, rebuilding one area at a time apart from the Don Rogers Stand.

And Robinson insists his firm are not interested in creating another soulless identikit-type stadium which have become commonplace up and down the country.

“It’s not just about coming up with a predictable design like maybe your Derby County’s or Sunderland’s. That’s not what we like to be about,” he told the Advertiser.

“The bowl of seats approach isn’t one that we particularly favour. Instead we prefer something a bit more traditional where you maintain a home end and an away end.

“There is one stand that is likely to stay at Swindon - the Don Rogers Stand. But without wanting to slavishly copy what that looks like with the others, we will try to do something a bit different.

“It is early days in the design phase, and nothing will be available for quite a while.

“Instead, right now we will look at viability and feasibility as well as helping to locate what will also be at the ground.

“This stage should last around two to three months. By the beginning of the next season, when hopefully Swindon are in the Championship, we can start to give people a bit of feedback.”