Work has commenced on Forest Green Rovers’ new stadium.
Chairman Dale Vince revealed this morning that ground work at the all-wooden ground next to Junction 13 of the M5 motorway is underway.
Contractors are currently on site at Eco Park.
Vince said: “We’ve started work on our new all wooden football stadium at Eco Park… with a series of boreholes to get an understanding of the ground conditions so that we can design the foundations, small for now – but it’s defo a start.
“With Eco Park we’ll be able to properly push the boundaries of sustainable development. The beating green heart of this project will be the lowest carbon football stadium in the world ever, at least since the Roman’s invented concrete – which is fitting given we’ve got Roman remains on the site. We’re hoping to get to work on training facilities in the next couple of months – and ultimately create a fantastic facility for all elements of the FGR football family to train together.”
Last January the club revisited plan included the all-wooden 5000 seat stadium for FGR – approved in December 2019 and the use of land on both sides of the A419 to include a green tech business park. The site will feature 38k sq metres of office space and 18k sq metres of industrial space, designed to host companies working in the zero-carbon economy.
The development will contribute around £150m to the local economy annually while generating £2m per year in business rates for Stroud District Council.
Subject to planning approval, Ecotricity hopes to begin work on initial training facilities this spring.
The plans will improve the habitat on site – with a biodiversity net gain of almost 12% from its existing green fields – enclosing the stadium in a parkland setting with more than 2km of new hedgerows, several thousand new trees and wetland, and the return of the canal. The site is also expected to self-generate over 80% of all energy used.
Ahead of forthcoming construction work, an extensive archaeological survey and dig took place on the site, where 10 skeletons were discovered.
