Premier Hospitality

Twickenham East Stand development

Twickenham
Written by Roma Publications

Introducing World Class Facilities at Twickenham

Twickenham Stadium has officially launched its new East Stand development. Offering six floors of creative event space for private hire, the East Stand has opened eight brand new facilities offering the ultimate in both match and non-match day hospitality.

The East Stand extension has seen the first significant redevelopment of Twickenham Stadium since the South Stand was completed in 2008. The new development provides over 11,000sqm of hospitality and debenture space for 6,800 premium ticket holders.

“We believe the new East Stand venues will set a new standard in match-day hospitality and as conference and event facilities throughout the year. Each space has been designed to offer a completely unique, modern experience,” said Nils Braude, catering, conference and events director at Twickenham Stadium.

Following a competitive tender process, the RFU chose a partnership between lead designer and architects KSS and strategic design consultants Wildfire London to act as interior designers for the East Stand redevelopment at Twickenham Stadium.

James Budd, Director at KSS said: “KSS has been working with the RFU at Twickenham since 2010 where we looked at a whole series of projects, a lot of them ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Subsequently, we started working with the RFU in 2016 and looked at further hospitality at the stadium, largely associated in bringing offsite hospitality facilities that were located around the stadium onto the Twickenham campus.

“The critical thing with the East Stand was to create a whole new range of different offers so these are all brand new facilities, catering for people across a range of different price points and types of hospitality offer.”

Each level is distinctive in its design with rugby themes subtly embedded to celebrate and bring to life the unique aspects of the home of England Rugby and delivering a truly bespoke hospitality experience to guests and Debenture holders alike. From a meetings and events perspective, the East Stand will work either as a stand-alone conference venue or in tandem with the adjacent rooms within the South Stand. The two stands, combined with the recently opened World Rugby Museum, mean the stadium can cater for incentive events as well as banquets, conferences, product launches and parties.

Colin Green, Executive Creative Director at Wildfire London told Premier Hospitality: “For us, it was a key part of the brief to develop a range of concepts across the development — each one, aimed at a particular audience group. Therefore, guaranteeing a diverse portfolio of products that ensures there is something for every type of guest at Twickenham. Each concept we developed linked back to the big idea of the ‘The Home of Rugby’ – giving the RFU a family of products that would be easily understood by the market.”

Twickenham

The East Wing

The East Wing

Luxurious surroundings and fantastic views, The East Wing has been developed with the same ethos as a private members club, offering sophistication without stuffiness. The facility is the premium space within the East Stand and features four private terraces sited along the stadium bowl, offering pitch views and outdoor access. The East Wing has a mix of fixed and loose furniture providing a relaxed restaurant vibe and has four individual semi-private dining areas that can accommodate up to 30 guests for dining or afternoon tea, in either an informal relaxed lounge environment or a more formal private dining table setting.

British Airways Rose Garden

The British Airways Rose Garden is Twickenham Stadium’s brand new fun and lively roof terrace largely covered with some open areas giving it that ‘outdoors feel.’ Located on level five in the East Stand, this is the choice if you are looking to do things differently. The British Airways Rose Garden accommodates up to six hundred people for drinks and food and offers menus based around street food dining concepts including a built-in wood fired pizza oven and rotisserie.

The Lock No. 4

The Lock No. 4 is a premium event space situated on Level three of the new East Stand development and makes up one half of The Lock. Featuring unobstructed views of the famous pitch and views towards central London, the facility benefits from a large spacious bar allowing ample space for pre-dinner drinks. The Lock No. 4 is ideal for mid-sized meetings, gala dinners, awards and Christmas parties.

The Lock No. 5

The Lock No. 5 situated on level three of the new East Stand development makes up the second half of this event space. The facility is ideal for mid-sized meetings as well as gala dinners, awards and Christmas parties and benefits from a large spacious bar allowing ample space for pre-dinner drinks.

Twickenham

The Lock

The Clubhouse Restaurant

The Clubhouse Restaurant makes up one third of The Clubhouse and consists of a formal restaurant suitable for dining for up to 500 guests. Touches of warm wood, leather and metallic finishes complete this light and airy Debenture facility.

The Clubhouse Bar & Kitchen

The Bar & Kitchen makes up the second half of The Clubhouse, situated on level four of the new East Stand. The space predominantly features exposed ceilings and an open plan design that is ideal for drinks receptions for up to 1,000 guests or smaller exhibitions and showcases.

The Gate Chop House

Located on level one and two of the East Stand, you will find a modern, but exquisite chop-house style restaurant. The Gate has that authentic steakhouse feel; a dark and moody atmosphere with low lighting and exposed brickwork and include a wine room, meat stores and offers a variety of dining styles.

The Union Ale House

The Union Ale House is situated on level one of the East Stand. The space has been designed to have the feel of the ultimate rugby pub for Debenture holders and is the ideal location for informal celebrations, post conference drink receptions and Christmas parties.

 

J Carey Design

J Carey Design is a bespoke furniture manufacturer specialising in the design, manufacture and installation of furniture for the commercial sector. The company has been in operation since 2003 and over the past fifteen years has built up a sizeable portfolio of projects ranging from courtrooms and hotels to office spaces, bars and more.

Past projects have included suites and boxes for Liverpool Football Club, reception areas for leading Law Firms and Global Hotel Chains, office spaces for Bupa and Standard Life and works at Headingley Stadium. The company regularly delivers bespoke fitted furniture for courtroom fit-outs and more recently has completed work on the Twickenham East Stand project for Willmott Dixon.

Discussing the project, Faye Heslop, Lead Designer at J Carey Design, said:

“We started on the design stages of the project during November 2017, working closely with the architect, KSS and the interior designer, Wildfire. We produced samples, discussed the joinery elements, produced drawings and then took things from there.”

Richard Dibbin Project Manager for J Carey Design, commented:

“The work on the Twickenham project has been technically challenging for us at J Carey Design, giving the company the opportunity to explore new ideas which we took in our stride.

“A great deal of the finishes on this project had not been seen before. In fact, every different area has a different finish. We worked on 18 bars across six floors plus several other specialist joinery items”.

Discussing the importance of the project, Richard said: “Faye and I are huge rugby fans, so we were very pleased to be involved with this project. To work for a client such as the Rugby Football Union is a huge achievement and the feedback that we’ve received has been very positive. So many people will use our products, so it has been a real privilege.”

Richard added:

“It was a real challenge, because the dates of the games don’t move, so there were a fair few late nights here and there, but it was great to be a part of this project and everyone at J Carey Design was so committed to making it a success which I hope many people will enjoy for years to come.”

 

The Furniture Practice

The Furniture Practice is an independent, design-driven furniture consultancy helping clients procure high-quality furniture for their spaces. Established in Clerkenwell in 1997, the company operates from London and Manchester collaborating with interior designers, architects, design & build companies, project managers and commercial end users to provide design-led furniture solutions for projects irrespective of size, budget and style.

Matt Davies, The Furniture Practice, said:

“We are proud to have worked on projects with many leading organisations and brands worldwide ranging from restaurants, bars and cafes to co-working spaces and corporate workplaces. We have a wide portfolio of hospitality projects, including the Media CafĂ© at Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club, The Bridge Bar and Restaurant at ExCel London, the Parade Ring Restaurant at Ascot Racecourse and The Terrace Restaurant at London Zoo, as well as restaurants for the DF Mexico and Wahaca chains.”

Recently, The Furniture Practice worked closely with the design teams at KSS and Wildfire to develop furniture options to complement the different spaces within the East Stand development at Twickenham Stadium. Each space has a different look and feel, so the furniture needed to compliment the areas accordingly.

From bespoke Italian Carrara marble tables and velvet finishes in the East Wing to distressed oak staves in the Gate, the project involved delivering and installing over 3,500 chairs and 1,000 tables from over 30 different furniture suppliers. This included several British brands as well as European suppliers.

Commenting on the project, Matt said:

“The East Stand Development is our largest hospitality project to date and we were delighted to have been selected to work on such an inspiring and ambitious project with a great client and talented design teams at KSS and Wildfire.”

Matt added:

“At The Furniture Practice we have more than 20 years’ experience in furniture consultancy and procurement. We pride ourselves on getting the very best value from our client’s furniture budget through the strong relationships we’ve developed over the years with our suppliers, the extremely high level of furniture knowledge and expertise that exists within our team and our progressive way of thinking and working.”

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