海角视频

Lord鈥檚 Allen Stand

London, UK

海角视频 is supporting Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to transform the Home of Cricket鈥檚 oldest stand, after the Pavilion, the Allen Stand. The regeneration would deliver new seats for members and guests, making the stand more accessible for everyone with the installation of lifts to all levels, create new hospitality and food and beverage facilities and establish an improved sense of arrival for those visiting the world-famous ground.

The project will provide improved catering, hospitality and accessibility, as well as increasing the overall ground capacity and seating.

The roof of the new Allen Stand will feature an elegant hybrid glulam timber, steel and fabric canopy that will shield members from the weather on the upper terrace.

The project will maximise year-round revenue generation outside of major matches by significantly improving offerings for MCC members.

Our experts advised on a ground-bearing raft foundation, mitigating against piling foundations, saving both project cost, time and embodied carbon.

Challenge

In April 2024, MCC received planning consent from Westminster City Council to redevelop the Allen and Tavern stands. The current plan is to focus on the Allen Stand first, with construction beginning in Autumn 2025 and the new Allen Stand being completed before the 2027 Ashes series. The intention thereafter is to begin the Tavern Stand redevelopment in Autumn 2027.

海角视频 was engaged to deliver design and advisory insight across a broad range of disciplines, including structural engineering and building services engineering (MEP), working closely with architect WilkinsonEyre, which is leading the design team.

The existing Allen Stand dates to the 1930s and will be demolished entirely. A link bridge between the Allen Stand and the Pavilion will also need to be demolished and rebuilt in the upper tier. The Tavern Stand, which dates from the late 1960s, will be refurbished and extended, once the project is given the go ahead to proceed in future.

The key challenge for the Allen Stand will be working within a constrained site, while ensuring the ground remains operational throughout.

Solution

The redevelopment will see an extra tier added to the stand which will be facilitated by the relocation of the scoreboard.

The new Allen Stand will be roughly the same size as the current stand, but will additionally include a basement to house functional spaces, including MEP plant rooms. The ground floor will include a new Middlesex Room for Middlesex County Cricket Club. The second level will include a new restaurant space and balcony, and the third tier will replace the existing terrace and include new bars and toilet facilities.

The roof of the new Allen Stand will feature an elegant hybrid glulam timber, steel and fabric canopy that will shield members from the weather on the upper terrace. A new slender bridge will connect into the Pavilion. This will enable the repair to a large area of terracotta facade on the listed Pavilion, which was unsympathetically removed in the 1930s construction of the original link bridge.

Our experts advised on a ground-bearing raft foundation for the new Allen Stand, mitigating against piling foundations, saving both project cost, time and embodied carbon.

Low carbon air-source heat pumps form the basis of the heating and cooling strategy, with high efficiency demand-controlled ventilation systems and solar PV panels contributing to the low energy design. To minimise plant areas, the Allen Stand is being integrated on to the existing site networks with new supplies being brought in from adjacent stands for services such as power, fire alarm, security and data.

Value

Our experts have supported the client and the wider design team to rationalise the best strategic approach to take with the stand, assessing the relative merits of retention and redevelopment against demolition and rebuild.

The new Allen Stand will offer modern, accessible facilities for Members and their guests, featuring pitch-facing bars across three levels. These include a brand-new caf茅 alongside the existing Middlesex Room. Seating capacity will increase by 190, bringing the total to 806, with each seat offering a generous row depth of 900mm.

To ease congestion, bars and washrooms will be available on every level. The redevelopment will also re-establish the connection with the Pavilion by relocating the bridge to link the new upper tier of the Allen Stand directly to the Members鈥� Bar. Historic elements from the original stand, such as the iconic 鈥淨鈥� sign, will be thoughtfully incorporated into the new design 鈥� helping to ensure Lord鈥檚 remains the landmark Home of Cricket in the decades to come.