Having put the design process out to tender in March, the proposed development and vision for the new Forest Green Rovers stadium is quite a spectacle. The winning design was submitted by Zaha Hadid who have designed one of the stadiums for the World Cup in Qatar. They're a club rubbing shoulders with the big time with eco-sustainability at their core.
What's more, this proposal puts forward a stadium that is entirely made of wood - the first of its kind. The reason for doing so all comes down to the carbon footprint. On top of that, it's utterly beautiful and resembles more of a contemporary cathedral than a football stadium. It's expected to house up to 5,000 seated fans.
The stadium is indeed part of a larger project that is initiated by Forest Green Rovers Chairman and the man behind Ecotricity, Dale Vince. A £100million 'Eco Park' will accommodate the stadium as well as a green technology business park across it's 100 acres that sits in Gloucestershire. Half a state-of-the-art sporting facility and half a business park with the potential of creating up to 4,000 jobs.
Half of Eco Park will consist of state-of-the-art sporting facilities, including the new stadium, grass and all-weather training pitches, publicly accessible multi-disciplinary facilities, and a sports science hub. Naturally, an eco-friendly environment already, Forest Green Rovers are a club that proudly put on a display of organic proportions off the pitch. From match day catering to luminous shirts, everything about them is green.
You see more about the project here.
