‘Under One Roof’
Bath Cricket Club aspires to meet the modern needs of community cricket in the recreational heart of the city.
 Background
Founded in 1859, the club is now a leading cricket recreational cricket club which has been appointed by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as a focus club to act as a “hub of the local community cricket network” for cricket development and, in particular, a focus on children and young people. At present, the club itself has around 100 senior players, both men and women, and around 250 youth, both boys and girls. All players have access to professional coaching from a team of sixteen ECB-qualified coaches.
Outdoor cricket playing and practice are provided at both the main ground in the city centre and the Brownsword ground near Beckford’s Tower on the northern edge of the city; indoor practice facilities exist at North Parade.
But the club does not provide cricketing opportunities for just its own players and visiting teams. In the late 1950’s, the club had the vision to establish a community indoor cricket school and make it available for all local cricketers. At this time, the existence of the only club-based community indoor school established Bath as a farsighted club that is always keen to push back the boundaries.
The club has extensive links with local schools, other clubs and the county boards of Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire as well as Team Bath. Off the field, the club has a high reputation for sound organisation and management and this, combined with competitive success on the field, has helped to spread the word about cricket within the wider community. Good business practices ensure funds are ploughed back into cricket. A committed team of volunteers run the club, supported by a small professional staff.
In 2003, the club converted from a private members’ club to a charity to consolidate the community role and permanently secure its club-owned ground for cricket. Together with the Rec., by far the majority of the recreational heart of the city is now charitable land.
The club has considerable experience and expertise in providing cricketing, educational and hospitality services for the benefit of members, other clubs, schools, voluntary organisations, businesses and the community as a whole.
But this contribution risks being compromised by the now obsolete indoor cricket school that must be replaced to meet modern standards, the expectations of its growing user base and the known demand. There is no modern dedicated four-lane indoor cricket school anywhere in the catchment area.
The way ahead
The club recognised the need to replace the cricket school some time ago and, in 2003, secured full planning approval to redevelop its facilities into a single unified building comprising a four-lane indoor cricket school, with associated cricket participation and improved hospitality facilities.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects won a competition and designed the building with the collaboration of B&NES planners, English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
Apart from technical and functional needs, the new building has to meet several architectural aspirations – integrate into the sensitive landscape context, reflect the quality of the built environment , capture the sports and leisure reputation of the city and celebrate the experience of watching and playing cricket in Bath. The design uses curves for the building to reflect ground boundaries, the shape of the nearby hills and the circles and crescents of the city. Raised terraces and artificial ground levels are common in the city and these features are used to settle the building into site and provide a sloping entrance courtyard to different terrace levels, all unified by a colonnade. The building complements superbly the rectilinear design of the new Forum building proposed for the southern edge of the Rec. which draws inspiration from the squares and terraces of Bath.
Meeting the needs of Bath and the wider cricketing community
People of all ages, from all levels of performance, will be able to use the proposed new facilities.
The new users expected to be attracted include:
• Talented young cricketers from the region who have been identified by the county boards for fast-track development, and who require specialist one-to-one coaching;
• Elite cricketers from Team Bath who require access to essential facilities not at the main campus sports village;
• Local schools that need dedicated cricket facilities to complement existing multi-purpose sports halls – the few schools already using the club are expected to increase significantly;
• The ECB in order to run their National Coaching Scheme courses for local coaches in the catchment area;
• Local cricket clubs – of which there are 130 within a 20 km. radius of the centre of Bath – who will have access to good quality net facilities for practice and training, and an arena for six-a-side leagues;
• Mentally and physically disabled groups and individuals for whom cricket is recognised as a remedial activity;
• Local people who are willing to train as umpires and scorers and whose numbers are currently in sharp decline’
And many others.
Bath Cricket Club already makes a major contribution to the city’s sporting excellence by providing consistently high class cricket, in unrivalled surroundings at the heart of the city. The new building will ensure that great cricket continues to be central to Bath’s reputation as a sporting city. Indeed, it will create a new blueprint for integrating recreational cricket clubs with sporting universities, and county cricket boards, to achieve city-based centres of cricketing excellence.
Conclusion
We believe the case for renewal is clear. The capital cost of the new building is estimated to be £3.5 million. The club is able to make a significant contribution but will require substantial help from development partners. Donations and grants from organisations and individuals persuaded by the merit of the project will be complemented by commercial partnerships that will benefit from association with this high profile venture.
The club has a proven ability to generate income for the benefit of cricket by providing hospitality, car parking and other services. The new building incorporates income-generating capacity essential to the club’s long-term operating viability. The club is capable of managing the centre and the business plan is robust.
As Michael Roe – Chairman, Bath Cricket Club says:
“We’re really hoping that other people will want to share the vision that we’ve got and will be able to help us financially. But in doing so recognise that what we’re trying to do here is something that’s really in the interests of the community, really in the interests of sport and is aligned to the overall vision that Bath and the area has.”
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