National Cricket Academy

The National Cricket Academy’s director Rod Marsh said yesterday the new £4M facility at Loughborough University would be the envy of even his fellow Australians. “From now on keeping up with the Joneses will mean keeping up with Loughborough.”

This indoor facility is the largest bespoke cricket training centre in the world. Measuring 70m x 25m, there are six lanes and the hall is long enough to accommodate a fast bowler run-up bowling to a wicket keeper standing back. The Hawkeye tracking system has been installed as a coaching aid in each lane. At one end of the hall is a three storey pavilion with balconies, galleries and terraces having views to both indoor and outdoor cricket. The pavilion accommodates a fitness, conditioning centre and changing rooms with a recovery area including hot and cold spa baths. The facility also offers office accommodation, a “performance analysis” suite, video library and seminar rooms.

The programme for this project was extremely short, and a highly specific building had to be produced. Similarly the budget was very tight. Ultimately £1,000,000 was cut from the construction cost whilst remaining true to the brief and completing on time.