“We’re pleased to be given yet another reason to love football: the approval of the world’s first all-timber football stadium!”
We’re passionate about timber, and its increasing use across the country (and the world). Timber is a beautiful natural material with proven health benefits – and it’s not just good for people, it’s good for the whole planet. However, wood isn’t the only thing we think about – most of us are also big sports fans. That’s why we’re particularly pleased to see that two of our passions are coming together for the first time in history with the announcement of the world’s first ever entirely all-timber football stadium.
The English Football League (EFL), the sport’s governing body in England, has approved plans from Forest Green Rovers to create the new venue. The Gloucestershire football club, which is described as “environmentally conscious and ‘100 per cent vegan’” by Construction News, expects to be in the stadium in “three or four years”, according to club chair Dale Vince.
Vince, who is also a ‘green energy industrialist’ and the owner of energy firm Ecotricity, continued: “There’s a lot of work to be done. We need a new road, there’s a business park attached to it […] but that’s the place [where] we hope to become and stay a Championship football club.”
He was keen to point out how important timber is to fighting climate change in public buildings like this one: “From an environment point of view, 75 per cent of the carbon footprint of all stadia in their entire lifetime comes from the materials they’re made from. It’s not about the energy used to run them, it’s embedded on day one. We’ll have the lowest carbon footprint of any stadium anywhere in the world since the Romans invented concrete.”
The stadium will seat 5,000 fans, and has been designed by architect Zaha Hadid.
However ambitious your plans, Quercus has got you covered. If you’re looking for something special for your next big project, give us a call on 0845 50 50 311 to see how we can help.