8
© EPR bowled over by hampshire
The second phase of Hampshire's new cricket stadium features not only more seating but also a hotel reports Steve Menary
S
taging a test cricket match was once the preserve of a handful of county grounds, which offered great historic value but not always the best facilities or the biggest
capacities. In the past few years, that has all changed as the English
Cricket Board (ECB) widened its net, prompting many grounds in England and Wales to upgrade their facilities to try and snare a lucrative test match or one day inter- national (ODI). This has seen new grounds such as Sophia Gardens in Wales
and the Riverside in Durham stage international cricket, but neither is new in the literal sense; new to international cricket but not new in terms of construction. “So many old grounds have years of development and that
creates challenges. What we want to produce is the first stadium in cricket,” says Glenn Delve, managing director of Rosebowl Plc, the parent company of Hampshire County Cricket Club (HCCC), which has built the first new cricket ground in the country for generations. A decade ago, the site of the Rosebowl between
Southampton and neighbouring Eastleigh was little more than scrubland, but that all changed when in 2000 Rod Bransgrove stepped in to underwrite half of a £6 million share issue to save HCCC. As Mr Bransgrove took the helm, the club left its historic
but tiny town centre Northlands Road ground in central Southampton for what is now the Rosebowl. The first phase produced an iconic main grandstand
designed by Sir Michael Hopkins that loomed over a concrete bowl, which was enough to secure a first international ODI in 2003, when South Africa took on Zimbabwe. A year later, the first ODI involving England saw a game with Sri Lanka frus- tratingly rained off half-way through. The Rosebowl staged more ODIs involving England, most
recently with Australia in 2009 and Pakistan in 2010 but the management had long accepted that more investment was needed to complete the ground and secure that prized test match. Mr Delve adds: “We wanted a ground that was a very
English place to watch cricket but with a spectator experience. We’re trying to create a model venue that everyone wants to come to [and] focusing on delivering a test match ground and also creating an exciting business resort.” The latter is part of Rosebowl’s plan to create a multiplicity
of revenue streams to not only bring in future earnings but also offset the cost of the second phase, which is put at £48 million. The existing nine-hole golf course is being expanded to 18
holes through a landfill deal that will see inert material brought in to re-shape the landscape at no cost to the Rosebowl. “I know if we went out to purchase that golf course, it would cost £5.3 million,” adds Mr Delve. “There are ways of funding these things if you are creative.” Irish contractor McAleer & Rushe was brought in to build
the two new 2,500-seat grandstands that cost £10 million - or £1,900 per seat - which Mr Delve says is “pretty good value.” Despite being hit by a sharp weather snap in early 2010 that
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68