THE PLANNED Windy Hill redevelopment will be a boon for the whole local community not just the footy club, according to Essendon CEO Ian Robson.

The plan is to enlarge the ground to the same size as the MCG and to create a state-of-the-art training facility at the club's traditional home.

Robson said AFL clubs had limited opportunities for gaining a competitive advantage over other sides, and a new facility would provide that chance.

"With a salary cap and a draft as major equalisation factors, it's your facilities that will really drive the prospect of securing a competitive advantage," he said on Thursday after the launch of the club's membership drive.

"We want to pursue a multi-generational outcome, and we're excited by what we can do here at Windy Hill.

"It's 10, 20, 30-years plus - it's not a bandaid, it's not a lick of paint, this is a fundamental reconfiguration and redevelopment of the site.

"So when I say multi-generation, it's not just my successor, it's my successor's successors."

Robson said the costing was not in any way locked in, but that the $20 million that Adelaide is thought to have spent on their new benchmark facility was a strong guide to the amount that needed to be spent, and as such, the club would need the assistance from all levels of government.

To that end, Robson and chairman Ray Horsburgh spent Wednesday in Canberra meeting with federal politicians, including No.1 ticket holder Lindsay Tanner, who is the Minister for Finance.

Expanding the area of the playing surface and building the new facilities would mean the nearby bowls club and cricket club would need to move, but the club was progressing well after discussion with both clubs.

With Collingwood, St Kilda, Hawthorn and Melbourne all forced to relocate in order to allow the construction of facilities of the standard required, Robson said the ability of the club to obtain world-class facilities while staying at its spiritual home was a major plus.

"We want to do it here at Windy Hill, here in Essendon, and do it in a manner which as I say, a number of our colleague clubs here in Melbourne haven't been able to do.

"They've had to leave their old suburban grounds to get the sort of facilities I'm describing.

"We can do it here, that's the really exciting thing."