06 Aug 2019
Forest Green Rovers resubmit plans for world's 'greenest stadium'
BY Tom Walker
Forest Green Rovers chair Dale Vince has resubmitted a planning application for a 5,000-capacity stadium development dubbed the "greenest football venue in the world".
Plans for the stadium – to be located close to the M5 motorway, around 10 miles north of Bristol – were originally turned down by Stroud District Council's development control committee at a meeting on 12 June.
Vince – founder of green energy company Ecotricity – described the decision to turn down the plans ‘bizarre’ and has now made amendments to the proposals.
These include converting one of the two natural grass training pitches to have a synthetic 4G surface – in order for local football clubs to use the pitch.
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the main stadium is set to be built almost entirely out of wood – the first of its kind in the world.
Vince said the material was chosen for being both a naturally occurring material and having a very low carbon content.
“If you bear in mind that around three-quarters of the lifetime carbon impact of any stadium comes from its building materials, you can see why this is so important – and it’s why our new stadium will have the lowest carbon content of any stadium in the world,” he said.
The stadium will be the centrepiece of the £100m Eco Park development – a 100 acre sports and green technology business park proposal in Gloucestershire owned by Vince's clean energy group Ecotricity.
It will sit alongside training pitches, publicly accessible multi-disciplinary facilities and a sports science hub.
"We’ve done a huge amount to showcase sustainable initiatives at our current ground, The New Lawn, but Eco Park will take our sustainable thinking to a new level entirely," Vince added.
Forest Green Rovers has played its home games at the 5,100-capacity The New Lawn since 2006.
The new stadium was originally scheduled to be ready in time for the 2023-24 season.
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