Feature

Wooden stadium design wins Forest Green competition

English Conference Premier football club Forest Green Rovers has selected Zaha Hadid Architects to design its new stadium, which will be made entirely of wood.

The 5,000-capacity stadium will be part of a £100m Eco Park development, which will also feature a green technology business park.

The club kicked off the competition in March, with 50 initial entries being whittled down to a shortlist of nine and then two final bidders, who were given another two months to work on their concepts.

“The really 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,” Rovers chairman and Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said.

“At Eco Park, we've started with a blank sheet of paper, and we'll be going further than anyone has done before – this really will be the greenest football stadium in the world.”

Zaha Hadid Architects director Jim Heverin said: “With the team's community and supporters at its core, fans will be as close as five meters 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.”

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