A stunning Main Pavilion forms the centerpiece for Hampshire County Cricket Club's
plans for a new first-class cricket Oval and 'sporting village' at West End, Southampton.
Granted detailed planning permission for the main development phase this week (25Mar99), the
Club has released the first drawings and details of the Main Pavilion complex. The building is
essentially tripartite, with a four storey Members' Pavilion facing onto the first-class cricket Oval, a
Cricket Academy buried into the hill beneath Telegraph Woods and a glazed atrium linking the two.
The Main Pavilion will comprise of administrative facilities, players' dressing rooms, a Long
Room - which can also be used for functions and receptions - hospitality and meeting rooms, plus top-deck
seating for members under the translucent fabric roof.
The Cricket Acadamy will be a Regional Centre of Excellence for cricket for all age groups. Six 40m
long indoor nets can be drawn back to provide a six-a-side pitch when required. With lighting and
floor surfacing to International standard, it is believed the facility will set a new bench mark in
Indoor Cricket facilities. A fabric membrane roof will span over the whole facility to provide optimum
daylight levels for players. The building will also include a multigym, squash and aerobics facilities
to provide a full-rounded compliment of sporting activities.
The whole complex will follow the tradition of other buildings designed by the architects, Michael Hopkins
and Partners, such as the Mound Stand at Lord's. Project architect Ernest Fasanya said: "The building
will combine in its design and materials a respect for the rural nature and context of the site with a
rigorous and innovative use of today's technology."
In addition to the Main Pavilion complex, planning permission was also granted for a sports injuries
clinic, sports shop, terracing and seating, security and accoustic fencing and media pavilion.
Work on this third phase is due to start in the late summer after the current construction work on the
Nursery Pavilion and Golf Clubhouse has been completed. The nine-hole "Pay-as-you-Play" Golf Course
will be the first element of Hampshire's new 150 acre 'sporting village' to open this summer.
Commenting on the Club's success, HCCC's vice-chairman Bill Hughes said: "We are delighted by the
success of our planning application, which we understand received unanimous support. Both the Club
and our architects were complimented on the standard of drawings, presentation and backup material,
indeed several members of the planning committee said they were pleased to be associated with this
remarkable project.
"We have come a long way since the launch of this project in 1995 and these drawings illustrate the
level of quality and design we aim to achieve in what we believe will become a major business,
leisure and entertainment centre for the South."
