Surrey County Cricket Club has unveiled newly expanded, state-of-the-art player dressing room suites at the Kia Oval in London.
Populous said the new facilities house personalised dressing rooms for both the men’s and women’s team and shared facilities that include nutrition stations and physiotherapy suites, all for use in domestic and international fixtures.
The Kia Oval is a 27,500 capacity international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London.
Populous is a global architecture and design practice specialising in the design of sports and entertainment venues, including stadiums such as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Narendra Modi Stadium in India and the Warner Stand at Lord’s.
The new facilities at the Kia Oval stadium expand the existing dressing room and team facilities in the Bedser Stand.
Populous said the new layout increases the space dedicated to player and team facilities from 360 to 740 square metres, including reconfiguring of existing spaces and extending them by approximately three metres towards the pitch.
Both men’s and women’s dressing room suites include expanded players’ dressing rooms, with a dedicated seat and locker for each player, new storage areas required for kit and equipment and modernised showers.
The suites also include a lounge space with views of the pitch that serve as a relaxation area, coaching area and informal space for player nutrition; an office; two smaller changing areas for coaching and support staff; a physiotherapy room; and toilets.
Shared facilities include a players’ dining room with dedicated kitchen.
For double-header fixtures, the men’s and women’s teams will each use their respective dressing room areas with alternative provisions made for the visiting sides, whilst for standalone matches, the home Surrey side will be in their dressing with the opposition in the alternate space.
Surrey CCC Chief Executive Steve Elworthy said, “The significant investment in the dressing rooms at the Kia Oval will bring the spaces in-line with some of the best sporting facilities in the country.
“This necessary work will ensure that the stadium retains its place as one of the best cricketing venues in the world and provides the domestic and international players with the best possible facilities to allow them to perform at their very best.
“The expanded dressing rooms now house some of the latest developments in sports science for supporting the recovery process for the players. It is fantastic for the women’s team to have their first-ever permanent base and locker room space and is the latest step in ensuring that the Kia Oval feels like their home.”
The design and construction process – led by Populous, with detailing and construction work carried out by the Populous EMEA Design & Build team – followed extensive consultation with representatives of Surrey CCC team management, to ensure that the refurbished and extended dressing rooms met and exceeded their needs.
Consultation sessions were also held with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) around meeting and exceeding existing standards for high profile venues, while looking ahead to how dressing rooms for major matches are expected to be used in the future.
Each set of proposals was benchmarked against the ECB standards as well as the best examples of dressing room areas at other high-profile venues in the UK across different sports.
The brief also ensured that the improved facilities support female coaches who may be working alongside male players and vice versa, aligning to the ECBs 2020-2024 strategy to transform women’s cricket by increasing the number of women in leadership roles in cricket and increasing the representation of women in the cricket workforce.
Surrey Captain Bryony Smith said, “It’s amazing to have our own space at the Kia Oval, our new home. For most of the players this is the first time that they’ve had their own permanent locker so it’s a really special moment for the team.”
David Land, Principal and Managing Director of Populous Design & Build, who carried out the work, added, “This was an exciting project to work on with the venue management team at The Kia Oval.
“Working to a defined budget and tight timescale Populous Design & Build delivered not only a new state of the art changing facility but also extended the existing section of the Bedser Stand, allowing further areas to be added for player welfare, as well as a new viewing terrace and player entrance to the ground.”
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