Town CEO and chairman Mark Ashton has revealed that the club hope to receive the thumbs-up to begin work on the redevelopment of their Playford Road training ground in a fortnight’s time.
The Blues submitted a planning application for the work, which will cost between £20 and £30 million, in November.
Speaking in an interview with former skipper and now director Matt Holland for TownTV alongside manager Kieran McKenna, Ashton said: "I’d like to think we’re probably a couple of weeks away now from, hopefully, a positive planning application and then we’re out to tender and the work will start imminently.
"The designs are completed, we’re in a good place because that not only gives the first team a new home and gives us really elite, first-class facilities, it also takes the current facilities and totally redevelops those for both our academy and our women’s teams, and our development squad.
"So the whole club, the whole football element of the football club is getting a new home and getting really world class and elite facilities, which we’ve cried out for.”
McKenna added: "I think for the whole club, but from a first-team perspective, as Mark has said so many times, we’ve climbed so quickly that from an infrastructure perspective, to match that rate of growth is virtually impossible.
"The club has made the very best of the facilities that we have and the infrastructure that we have but we need to grow it now, we need to develop it in all areas.
"Top range training facilities is a big part of that. It helps the day-to-day work, it helps the recruitment of players and it helps the retainment of our very best players, which we want to do.
"I think that’s going to be a big, big boost. It’s always nice to see the plans going on in the background. I think when the first digger and the first shovel come, it gives the players a big boost, it just reminds everyone that there’s a big, big future ahead of the next week or the next game and the club’s going in a really positive direction.
"It’s exciting to hear that the work’s not too far from commencing and we’re looking forward to seeing it in progress.”
Regarding current works at the stadium, Ashton said: "In the next few weeks two new lounges will open in the West Stand that we’ve been developing underneath the executive boxes and there are multiple projects in the stadium ongoing.
"A planning application is in for car parking behind the South Stand and ultimately we’re working on the redevelopment of the Cobbold Stand, but as I’ve said time and time again, that’s not imminent. That’s a longer-term project.
"We have numerous infrastructure projects still to complete, we have the training ground to complete, delivering cat one status for the academy is no mean feat. We’ve got so much going on.”