North East & Yorkshire

Club is bowled over by new pavilion

England and Yorkshire seam bowler Tim Bresnan, together with members of the England Women’s team, opened the newly constructed flagship Harrogate Cricket Club Pavilion in August 2011.

The project, which was jointly commissioned by Harrogate Cricket Club and the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), was carried out by Main Contractors Houseman & Falshaw. Project architects were Seven Architects.

In developing the scheme, Seven reviewed a number of options, assessing the relationships with access, sightlines and changing facilities in line with Sport England requirements and ECB guidelines. In doing so, layouts and visuals were prepared to support numerous public consultation events to support the planning consultation process, which resulted in Detailed Planning Approval in August 2010.

The new building, which provides spectators with excellent views over cricket pitches on either side, replaces the 112 year old pavilion, which was badly damaged by fire three years ago.

In addition to being used by the club, the pavilion also acts as a Centre of Excellence for Ladies Cricket within Yorkshire, with the ultimate aim of supporting Ladies Test Cricket. The multi-functional spaces and large function area closely relate to the two existing pitches and create an attractive venue for the wider Harrogate community.

The pavilion cost £825,000 and well over half the money (£500k) was provided by the ECB (the England and Wales Cricket Board) in partnership with Sport England via a grant. The club’s members raised the rest of the money.

The new two-storey building incorporates four changing rooms for players and two for umpires, with associated showers and toilets, scorers’ rooms, a function room, two bars – one with a catering kitchen, and storage facilities.

The lower and upper external elevations of the building are visually split, with the lower storey in rendered masonry and the upper storey being a structural steel framework featuring timber columns and cladding, full length balconies, floor to ceiling glazing and a single membrane flat roof.

External works included landscaping.

Chairman of Harrogate Cricket Club, Steven Culleton said “The large function room, kitchen and meeting rooms are fantastic facilities for the teams and spectators on match days and are available for community use at other times.”

He expressed his warm gratitude to the ECB and Sport England for their generous support and acknowledged that the club couldn’t have built such a prestigious pavilion from its own resources. He also thanked the club’s members for their role in raising the residual funds.

Charles Johnson, Sport England’s Director of Property, said that the award was part of the ECB’s strategy to invest in sustainable and high-quality facilities, as this would help to develop up-and-coming cricketing talent and to attract new participants to the game.

The National Funding and Facilities Manager for the ECB, Bruce Cruse, added, “The ECB is pleased to support this development at Harrogate CC which will give a boost to grass roots cricket in the area and to the development of women’s and girls’ cricket in Yorkshire. I am confident as the investment matures cricket locally will go from strength to strength and the facilities will benefit the wider community.”

Houseman and Falshaw have a passion for construction and to deliver the highest quality projects.

The company offers a range of services, including design and build, construction, steel fabrication, civil engineering and plant hire.

About the author

Roma Publications