Princess Royal Stadium, Boston

 

The Princess Royal Sports Arena, a competition arena combined with state of the art training facilities, is a showcase for the use of engineered timber. Putting Boston well and truly on the sporting map is the £7 million Princess Royal Sports Arena, a striking sports stadium which is a world first in that it has been designed from the very beginning to cater for disabled and able-bodied athletes.

The Borough Council is a major stakeholder in what has been called a blueprint for totally integrated sports facilities which other developers will follow. The stadium will also be the new home of the town's thriving rugby club, and there will be a health and fitness centre open to the public, as well as magnificent indoor training facilities.

 

Extensive use was made of pre-fabricated elements, like the hollow-cored multi-faceted Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) columns to achieve the required quality. The design incorporates a central glazed street made up of curved glulam beams and polymer sheet glazing.

 

Roof beams of solid LVL, weighing 2.25 tonnes each, achieve a span of up to 22 metres while glulam beams achieve a span of over 30 metres to create the main roof structure. Externally, the building is clad in Thermowood, which gains its hardness, durability and colour through heat treatment rather than chemical preservatives.

The Sage, Gateshead

 

The £70 million Sage at Gateshead is a key element of the Tyneside regeneration, and includes three auditoria and a regional music school.

 

Wood was used primarily for its aesthetic appearance, but also because it is easy to mould and has good acoustic properties. American ash for the main hall and European birch for the smaller hall and the rehearsal room are complemented by moulded plywood and sumptuous fabrics.

 

Based on the classic ‘shoebox’ shape, hall one was designed to provide the optimum acoustic for a symphony orchestra, with surfaces shaped for the best sound diffusion and timber that is either very thick or directly bonded to obviate low-frequency sound absorption. Wall surfaces incorporate a convex curvature (for low frequency distribution) and the timber battens diffuse the middle and high frequency sound.

Click here for further information on the use of wood in sports stadiums.