3 minute read
Eco Design
I’ve been looking forward to this edition of NetWorks, as I have always had an interest in design and how it can elevate, rather than envelop an environment.
Eco Park will be the world’s first carbon neutral football club, and home to the Forest Green Rovers (FGR). They have gained special recognition from the UN for their enthusiastic and realistic adoption of eco-thinking and technology and are currently the UK’s only vegan football club.
The FGR compete in league two, and the team started their journey to carbon neutrality in 2010 when they were rescued from regional league relegation and financial ruin by Dale Vince OBE, a 59-year-old green energy industrialist and owner of electricity company Ecotricity. Dale left school at 15 and despite spending the 80s as a new age traveller in a van with a wind turbine, he is now a multi-millionaire, entrepreneur, and now of course, a football club boss. His green credentials are impressive, and it was Vince that set the club on its current path. FGR are now more successful than ever, and the novelty of promoting a vegan club has drawn press and mention from all over. Although some of the fans were non-too happy about having their ‘meat pies and sausage rolls’ taken away from them, most of the upset seems to have been quelled after they sampled the new menu.
Changes that attract media and sponsorship attention
The club isn’t preaching veganism, but due to the uniqueness of their position, it is often mentioned in coverage, as a result they have attracted the sponsorship of businesses that aren’t usually involved with football, like the global meat replacement company Quorn.
As the world’s greenest football club prepares to build the world’s greenest stadium, I wondered exactly what went into such an incredible undertaking and how other businesses can learn from what they are doing.
Anyone interested in architecture has heard of Zaha Hadid, and the visionary architect’s firm designed the stadium which was approved in 2019. Although in keeping with Hadid’s aesthetic of modernism and smooth, almost organic lines, the structure will be made almost entirely from wood – nature’s most renewable building material and the one with the lowest carbon footprint.
The stadium will have on-site solar generation and will be supplied with green energy from Ecotricity, cutting down carbon even further.
The site will accommodate 5,000 fans and 1,700 cars (with ample charge points for electric vehicles), with two additional pitches including one with an all-weather 4G surface, so they aren’t skimping on the creature comforts. However, they will also promote biodiversity by planting 500 trees and 1.8km of hedgerows across the landscaped parkland in which it is situated. Aware that people need to get to the stadium, they are also investing in pedestrian safety measures, cycleways, and subsidised match day buses for fans.
Thinking even wider than energy and transport, the club is pledging to have a completely organic pitch, with no pesticides used. They will also continue to be 100% vegan on site, this is due to the amount of carbon that the livestock industry produces.
Despite some flack from visiting teams (including ham sandwiches being used as pitch missiles) and armchair pundits, some of the players have decided to adopt a plant-based lifestyle full time. However, when plant-based Arsenal fullback Hector Bellerín says that other premier league players have approached him for advice, you know that a change is coming. Hopefully, the Forest Green Rovers’ players won’t have to duck ham sandwiches for long!
Clear branding and a mission are integral to success
With the music and fashion industry only just starting to think about sustainability when planning festivals and events, it feels like FGR is really ahead of the game. In 10 years, they have grown from a club on the brink of collapse, to one building a new stadium that is a true inspirational leader in sustainability. The team is the best they have ever been, and the press coverage has been amazing. In their quest for carbon neutrality, the club has ended up wrapping their brand around sustainability and are doing very well for it. Clear branding and a mission are integral to success.
Diane Birch, Executive Director BITA Ltd
