FWP work with Forest Green Rovers to create stadium built of wood

Forest Green Rovers’ plans to build the world’s first entirely wooden stadium have moved a step closer to becoming a reality, after getting the nod from the English Football League (EFL).

The EFL approval means the League Two club can now advance their plans for the 5,000-seater Eco Park stadium.

FWP’s architecture and design team has developed Ecotricity founder Dale Vince’s vision for Eco Park, next to junction 13 of the M5 in Glouces­ter­shire.

Eco Park has been submitted to Stroud District Council for outline planning permission and if the project gets the go ahead the 100-acre sports and green technology development could create up to 4,000 new jobs.

Located on either side of the A419, half of Eco Park will consist of state-of-the-art sporting facilities, including an all-seater stadium for National League club Forest Green Rovers, grass and all weather training pitches, multi-disciplinary facilities and a sports science hub

The stadium itself will be 159m long, 144m wide and 19.5m in height.

Ecotricity claims that by using timber a significant carbon saving could be made.

“Unlike most buildings, around three quarters of the lifetime carbon impact of any stadium comes from its building materials, while the opposite is true for residential and business buildings, where three quarters of the lifetime carbon impact come from the operation of the building,” a company spokesperson said.

“The importance of using ethically sourced wood, is not only that it’s a naturally occurring renewable material, but that it has very low embodied carbon compared to alternatives such as concrete and steel. So the stadium will have the lowest embodied carbon of any sports stadium in the world.”

They launched a second bid in December the same year which for was approved by six votes to four.