client:  Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

value:  £1.9 million

date:   completed 2003

The Fox Road Stand comprises:

• new spectator stand built over existing car park
• air rights development
• 2300 seat capacity
• facilities for the disabled

Trent Bridge is considered to be one of the best grounds in the world to watch cricket. Recent developments include the £7.2 million Radcliffe Road Cricket Centre, opened in 1998 and also designed by maber.

The Fox Road Stand completes the enclosure of Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. An imaginative example of “air rights” development, the stand was built over, but not on, an adjacent car park. Only essential services and structural elements were permitted at ground level.

The necessity to raise the stand clear of the ground meant that the design is based on different structural principles from the more traditional pavilions at the Ground. The canopy is designed as a curved sail, held in tension by raking steel masts. The main body of the stand, with its arced profile, also sweeps clear of the ground. Only at its base, where the lower terrace fronts on to the pitch, is solid construction deployed.

The stand accommodates 2321 spectators, provides facilities for the disabled, and is designed in accordance with the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds.