Wood is used as a construction material mostly for residential houses, sometimes commercial buildings, but never a stadium. But lower league English club Forest Green Rovers is changing that by building the world’s first ever stadium made out of wood.
Chairman and football club owner Dale Vince said in a statement, “The really standout thing about this stadium is that it’s going to be almost entirely made of wood – the first time that will have been done anywhere in the world.”
To be constructed in a 100-acre Eco Park in western England, the stadium will provide facilities for the community and the football club, and will host events and conferences. There will be gyms, all-weather pitches, and sports science clinics to be offered.
Source: Zaha Hadid Architects
In March of 2016, the Rovers announced a design competition for the wooden stadium, with over 50 entries from around the globe. Zaha Hadid Architects eventually emerged as the winner.
“Zaha Hadid Architects has built some fantastic sports stadia and facilities around the world, including one at the Olympic Park in London, they’ve designed one of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, and now they’ve designed one for Forest Green,” the millionaire said.
The famous architectural firm, through ZHA director Jim Heverin, detailed in a statement after its design was chosen that the project will be the first all timber football stadium with almost every element made of sustainably sourced timber, including its structure, roof cantilevers and louvered cladding.
Moreover, the wooden stadium was designed to accommodate 5,000 people but the designers allowed the possibility to a 10,000 seater in the future.
Source: Zaha Hadid Architects
Vince recognizes the impact of using wood in the construction of this $123 million stadium.
“The importance of wood is not only that it’s naturally occurring, it has very low embodied carbon — about as low as it gets for a building material,” he said.
“And when 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 that’s so important — and it’s why our new stadium will have the lowest embodiment of carbon of any stadium.”
Source: Zaha Hadid Architects
It has been the trademark of Vince to incorporate sustainability in everything he manages. He is now the CEO of Ecotricity, a green energy company specializing in wind power while being chairman of the Forest Green Rovers.
Source: Zaha Hadid Architects
