Kings College Taunton
The challenge
Kings College Taunton were looking to significantly enhance their cricket programme for pupils and upgrade facilities to a standard worthy of hosting the annual, prestigious “West of England” junior cricket festival.
The solution
To design a unique three-lane indoor centre to ECB specifications that enables pupils to continue training in any weather and facilitate an ambitious winter schedule.
Key facts
- 15m wide x 42m long x 7.5m internal height
- 900g double skin fabric
- Steel clad gable ends
- Single skin steel cladding to 3m high on 3 of the sides
- 30m retractable bi-fold cladding
Project overview
Kings College is an independent day and boarding school in Somerset. Cricket has always been at the forefront of it’s culture and traditions and it is hailed as a Centre of Cricketing Excellence. Their commitment to the sport has also rewarded them with a place in the top 100 cricket playing schools as selected by The Cricketer Magazine.
It is no wonder therefore that they take great pride in their cricket facilities which include a campus of pitches where six games can be happening at the same time. This is particularly useful for hosting the West of England junior festival, which has welcomed thousands of young cricketers over the years, including many who currently play in the England team and lots who play first class cricket
There are a number of artificial outdoor nets next to each of the pitches and now they can also boast of a state of the art indoor net training facility, which is perfect for their winter training schedule.
After carrying out all planning requirements, the topographical survey and geotechnical survey, we installed piling into the soft ground to support the foundations and build a dome structure measuring 15m wide x 42m long x 7.5m internal height. With a 12m long frameless reinforced glass section in the main wall to increase natural light and viewing to the outdoor cricket pitch, as well as a set of French doors, able to withstand being hit by a cricket ball, under-floor heating and LED lighting to 1500 lux, the building was finished to a very high spec, befitting of the schools very high reputation and crickets elite.
Phil Lewis, Director of Sport explains, “We opened the doors to our brand new cricket centre, which boasts three lanes, long run-ups and a state of the art training facility for our cricketers. On top of this, the centre is also used for our sports performance and conditioning programme as well as various other activities such as fencing, dance, aerobics and pilates.” The centre was opened by England cricketer and ex-pupil, Jos Buttler.
