Lord’s Cricket Ground, London
WilkinsonEyre’s new Compton and Edrich stands at Lord’s Cricket Ground raise the bar for cricket viewing and hospitality
Words by Veronica Simpson
PROJECT INFO
Client: Lord’s Cricket Ground
Architect: WilkinsonEyre
Cost: L53m
Engineers: Buro Happold
Construction: ISG
Completed: Summer 2021
WHEN THE PERT, alien craft-like Lord’s Media Centre appeared, hovering over the viewing stands at Lords Cricket Ground back in 1999, it established the name and reputation of its architects Jan Kaplinsky and Amanda Levete – then trading as Future Systems. It has continued to be a distinctive, contemporary presence within the rather fusty, genteel environment of the nation’s leading cricket venue, whose first structures date back to the early 19th century. You couldn’t miss it as you walked through the well-heeled residential London neighbourhood from St John’s Wood underground station, peeping up above the low- to mid-rise mansion blocks. But the ground’s visibility is even greater now that the gleaming white Media pod is flanked by two equally white, curvaceous, higher – at 24m – and substantially larger companions in the form of WilkinsonEyre’s new Compton and Edrich stands.
The curved nature of the building help make Lord’s the UK’s premier cricket venue. Image Credit: HUFTON+CROW
Despite their far greater scale, they are thoughtful in their body language: standing discretely apart from the seductively sci-fi Media Centre, their curving rooflines are angled away, in a diplomatic stance, reminiscent of two highly paid bodyguards flanking their celebrity client.
This L53m project, constructed by ISG and engineered by Buro Happold is intended to ‘future proof’ the ‘home of cricket’, while raising both the experiential and aesthetic bar for cricket fans. This is not – as with so many stadium refits – about boosting glamour just to attract more corporate dollars, though there are two rather sumptuous new boxes (two luxurious, blond wood parquet and pale grey, intimate lounging affairs for 25 guests) for the ground’s main sponsors JP Morgan. But it is probably the ordinary fans who will notice the difference. As Robert Ebdon, assistant secretary (estates & ground development) tells the assembled media on a chilly winter’s morning, this new accommodation not only adds an extra 2,600 seats to the grounds – with combined accommodation for 31,180 – but is a dramatic improvement on the rather rickety stands that preceded them, which were demolished in 2019. His description makes it clear that they were no longer fit for purpose: ‘You would either be at risk of hypothermia if you were in the lower seats, or of being fried to a crisp if you were sat upstairs. There were no toilets, no facilities or bars. To go to the loo you had to walk down the stairs and right around the corner, and risk missing whole swathes of the game.’ If you were unlucky enough to have to queue, that could add up to 20 minutes of play missed.
The grounds are now far more accessible, with 20% of seats able to accommodate wheelchairs. Image Credit: HUFTON+CROW
Missing play is obviously not an experience to be tolerated, for cricket fans might have paid up to L100 for their day ticket: The gold standard is apparently that set by Adelaide Oval cricket ground: no seat should be more than 40m away from an F&B outlet or toilet. ‘And that’s what we’ve tried to do here’, says Ebdon. But they have also raised standards on other important measures, including accessibility and environmental performance: 20% of the seats are now wheelchair accessible, and energy is provided by a Ground Source Heat Pump, which is linked to the Warner stand, opened in 2017. There’s also a new green wall, which Ebdon describes as ‘a nice, neighbourly feature’; it boasts 12,000 plants and boosts the site’s biodiversity. Concrete from the demolition of the old stands was also re-used, with much of it broken down to provide the rubble for these new stands’ foundations. This had the added benefit of substantially reducing the amount of traffic to and from the construction site. The old stands’ seats have also, wherever possible, been reused.
Two new restaurants have been inserted, one in each stand: an upmarket one in the Edrich stand, presided over by Michelin–starred chef Tommy Banks, and the other a much larger, flexible, canteen affair. Both of these restaurants – placed at mid level within the new stands – offer spectacular views onto the cricket pitch. Indeed, the design is all about the views.
Two new restaurants have been added to the grounds, featuring bespoke interiors. Image Credit: HUFTON+CROW
As we are ushered into the Tommy Banks restaurant, the smell of new leather is overwhelming, emanating from the expensively upholstered, burgundy leather banquettes that line the inside wall, on a slightly raised platform – again to ensure that people sitting there can still see onto the pitch over the heads of fellow diners/bar guests, through the full height glazing opposite. A calm and conservative taste is demonstrated in the hardwood parquet floors, laid in a pleasing rhomboid pattern, as well as wooden wall panelling. The open bar can be accessed directly or drinks ordered and delivered to the charcoal or mustard upholstered lounge seating, arranged beside the sweeping windows. Further along the bar is a nice touch for the assorted architects who have contributed to parts of this London landmark over the years, with their initial sketches – or ‘doodles’ as Ebdon calls them – framed and placed on the wall.
The higher seats in the cricket grounds used to be an uncomfortable trap for heat. Image Credit: JED LEICESTER
The Compton stand restaurant is a much more free-flowing affair, with a mixture of tables, standing bars and ‘grazing’ facilities. With blue grey walls and pale, terrazzo flooring, its massive scale is softened by the curve of the room, whose walls are decorated with white silhouettes of cricketers at their positions.
Strolling up the stairs and into the stands to look onto the cricket pitch, Ebdon reminds us that the main challenge for the design team was to ‘ensure that we give as many seats as possible a view of the entire ground’. That’s no mean feat, given the height restrictions imposed by local planning laws, and the need to balance the desire for maximum seats while facilitating easy movement. With the Media Centre’s viewing deck protruding slightly in between the stands, those sitting closest to it have some of their peripheral vision at the edge of the ground sacrificed. But Ebdon is happy that ‘at least 96% of all the seats in the stands have a great view’.
The new design makes the most of the venue’s curved shape, celebrating its form throughout the grounds. Image Credit: HUFTON+CROW
From the top of each stand, the visible upper part of the roof canopy is supported by a timber shell on the underside, with the white fabric skin luminously visible through it. This contrasts with the main frame of the canopy, supported by white-painted, radiating steel ribs. The addition of this timber shell adds a ‘nice, warm feel,’ as project architect Sam Wright says, but also references the tent-like forms of the Mound Stand’s fabric roof. Says Wright: ‘We didn’t want to ape the Media Centre. We like the light feel of the roof, the gridshell quality. It makes the most of what really is an enormous curve.’ The reasons for that curve were partially to gently mimic the contours of the Media Centre, but also allowed for strategic angling to minimise issues over rights to light. On the Compton stand, local objections required the slicing out of a section of the curve to drop the roofline by several rows of seats.
The Compton and Edrich stands undulating roof profile also helps to draw visitors down the approach road, towards what is a new entrance (The North Gate) for the grounds. Coming through this gate, visitors walk past the nursery ground, where young and training cricketers play year round. ‘The stands have this dual aspect,’ says Wright, ‘yes, very much focused on the pitch but also they draw focus to this nursery ground, behind the stands. Cricket is theatre,’ he adds. Making visible all aspects of Lords’ owners Middlesex County Cricket Club’s activities is a happy benefit of this new addition, reinforcing that social aspect of a day at Lords. Wright says: ‘I’m always amazed how many people are not actually watching the cricket when I come here. It’s a very social event.’
The language of these new stands is in keeping with the expressed engineering of all the other key Lords’ structures. Great thought has been given to easing movement into and through the complex, to make it feel less like a sequence of single structures, which it is. These are certainly welcome interventions.
