Stadium for Bath launches final round of consultation

Stadium for Bath has launched the final round of consultation on its vision to deliver a new sport, leisure and community-focused destination in the heart of the city.

The proposals include plans to breathe new life into the riverside realm between Pulteney Bridge and North Parade and to improve access to the city centre from that eastern bank of the River Avon, which sits adjacent to the Recreation Ground (the Rec).

In addition, the community-focused East stand will drive active involvement in grassroots sport by addressing specific social needs via targeted education opportunities for young adults and supporting charitable organisations operating in Bath.

Stadium for Bath held a consultation on the emerging concept designs in July. Over 1,000 people attended this event in person, with a further 16,000 people engaging online via social media and the Stadium for Bath website. The project team has since collated all feedback received during this time and fed it directly back into the design process.

Following this, a preferred scheme from the emerging concepts has been developed. In order to progress these plans to both regenerate the riverside and create new world-class facilities for everyone to enjoy at the Rec, Stadium for Bath is launching the final round of consultation.

The public exhibition will be held in the Brunswick Room at the Guild Hall in the centre of the city on:

• Wednesday 5^th December – 12:00pm to 6:00pm
• Thursday 6^th December – 11:00am to 7:00pm
• Friday 7^th December – 11:00am to 7:00pm
• Saturday 8^th December – 10:00am to 4:00pm

At the event, there will be the opportunity to speak with members of the project team, ask questions and give feedback on the developed concept design. For those who are unable to attend the event, all of the information will also be available via this website along with an online feedback form.

Chief Executive of Bath Rugby, Tarquin McDonald, said:

For the past two years, we have been engaging with our neighbours, local community groups, schools, businesses and the those that live and work here in this fantastic city. We have listened to their feedback and fed it all into the design process. We believe that we now have a developed design that is befitting to both our iconic location in the heart of the city and Bath’s World Heritage status.

 

This is an incredibly important consultation for Stadium for Bath’s vision to create a new destination that everyone can use and enjoy. I urge you to either come and see the consultation in person or go online, we will get this right if we all work together.

Stadium for Bath is the project that brings together Bath Rugby, Bath Rugby Foundation and Arena 1865.

Design & build team

Globally renowned firm Grimshaw is lead architect for the project, charged with realising the vision for a new community-focused stadium in the heart of Bath – a certified UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The design aesthetic and stadium experience will be fundamental to the overall design solution. It is clear that the smart use of space at the site, the design of internal and operational spaces, and the landscape setting of the stadium will also be essential components of a successful design. Grimshaw has therefore appointed two further practices, Kay Elliott and Gross Max, as sub-contractors to provide further design expertise on this unique project.

Kay Elliott has been appointed Destination and Interiors Architect. Kay Elliott will have overarching responsibility for designing the internal look and feel of the new stadium. Internal areas include hospitality, player areas, bars and toilets, together with non-matchday uses such as conferencing and banqueting.

Gross Max has been appointed to lead on riverside design and the public realm to ensure that they are delivered to an exceptional standard befitting Bath.

Global engineering and design consultancy firm, Arup, will provide civil, geotechnical, structural, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering as well as ICT, audiovisual, acoustic and specialist lighting design for the new 18,000-seat, digitally-enabled stadium.

Technical consultation 

A well-known figure to Sports Venue Business readers and a Premier Football Tech Expert, Mike Bohndiek, was appointed as Chief Technology Officer to the project late last year. With 13 years in the sports tech sector, Bohndiek has a wealth of experience. In that time, he has deployed large-scale technology into fourteen UK sporting venues, and overseen two major stadium transformations, most recently the move from West Ham’s ground at Upton Park to the London Stadium in Stratford.

Mike was also one of the 60+ industry expert speakers that took part in Europe’s first Premium Seat event, ALSD International, which was held in London back in October and welcomed some 251 registered attendees. Our own CEO, Katie McIntyre, is Executive Director for the event and is currently hard at work organising the 2019 edition. For more information make sure to visit the website at: www.ALSDInternational.com or to secure exhibitor, speaker or sponsor spaces, email Katie at: katie@alsd.com

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