Eco Park - a Trojan Horse for the future of stadia?
Forest Green Rovers has just published revised plans for the Eco Park which will include an all-wooden 5,000 seat stadium.
The Club’s website suggests the following green credentials:
- Eco Park will be constructed from wood, which not only locks up carbon but has the lowest carbon footprint of any major building material.
- On-site solar generation.
- Organic pitches and vegan food.
- Charging for electric vehicles.
- Good walking, cycling and public transport access.
- 500 trees and 1.8km of hedgerows, along with meadows surrounding the stadium.
Club chairman Dale Vince has previously been quoted as saying that "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." By building in wood he expects to “have the lowest carbon footprint of any stadium anywhere in the world since the Romans invented concrete".
Could this stadium be the Trojan horse to oust concrete and steel from stadia of the future?