WE’VE GOT THE WOOD ON YOU
Rovers go green with new stadium
AMBITIOUS Forest Green Rovers have announced plans to build a brand new stadium – made entirely out of wood!
The National League leaders held a competition to design a new 5,000-seater arena, which will form the centrepiece of the £100million Eco Park development just off the M5 in Gloucestershire.
Over 50 entries were received from around the world, including Sweden, Germany, France and USA, before Rovers selected Zaha Hadid Architects – designers of the London Aquatics Centre and one of the five stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar – as the winning bid.
Opportunity
Forest Green will take up residence in half of the Eco Park, complete with new stadium, grass and all-weather training pitches, publicly accessible multi-disciplinary facilities and a sports science hub.
The other half will com- prise a green technology business park with sustainably built commercial offices and light industrial units, giving Eco Park the potential to create up to 4,000 jobs. It will also include the continued expansion of green energy company Ecotricity, who submitted the overall proposal, fronted by founder and club chairman Dale Vince.
Vince said: “Zaha Hadid have built some fantastic sport stadia around the world, including one at the Olympic Park in London; they’ve designed one of the five stadiums for the next World Cup in Qatar, and now they’ve designed one for Forest Green!
“The standout thing about this stadium is that it’s going to be entirely made of wood – the first time that will have been done anywhere in the world.
Atmosphere
“The importance of using wood is not only that it’s a naturally occurring material, it has very low carbon content – about as low as it gets for a building material.”
Jim Heverin, Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, added: “With the team’s community and supporters at its core, fans will be as close as five metres from the pitch and every seat has been calculated to provide unrestricted sight lines to the entire field of play.
“The stadium’s continuous spectator bowl surrounding the pitch will maximise matchday atmosphere.”