Peter May Stand, Kia Oval London Cricket Ground, Surrey CCC Arena, Images, Design

Peter May Stand, Kia Oval

Surrey County Cricket Club Development, Kennington, London, England, UK – Architect. Rolfe Judd Architects.

19 Jul 2016

Peter May Stand at The Kia Oval

Location: Kennington, south London

Peter May Stand at The Kia Oval – The Home of Surrey County Cricket Club

Design: Rolfe Judd Architects

Artelia was appointed as the Project Manager, Quantity Surveyor and Principal Designer of The Peter May Stand at the Kia Oval. The Kia Oval, Kennington, hosted the first Test cricket match on English soil in 1880, as well as the famous ‘Ashes’ rivalry in 1882. Artelia has been working with the Kennington Oval since 2007, with the Peter May Stand being the latest phase of their modernisation programme.

The project has created an extra 1,450 seats raising the ground’s capacity to 25,300 whilst providing better spectator facilities, including toilet facilities and new retail catering in the enlarged understand concourse area which can also be adapted for exhibition and event use. A new roof terrace, The Garden, offers one of the best views in world cricket, widening the ground’s hospitality offering.

In addition, the adjacent Laker Stand has undergone a facelift to incorporate the new stand, replacing the ground floor seats and creating a new viewing platform. The stand will also see a change of name to the Lock/Laker Stand, to honour the famous 1950’s bowlers Tony Lock and Jim Laker. The new profile and seating has brought the two stands together, with the new profile increasing the continuity of the shape and softening the transition between stands.

The project also incorporates disabled access for the Bedser Stand and a green roof has been included to improve the sustainability of the project.

As a World famous cricket ground playing host to national and international matches the project necessitated out of season construction. This along with the requirement for the new stand to absorb a small amount of the pitch meant that hand over had to be on time, to allow the international grade pitch to be reinstated in time for the opening season. One method to mitigate the tight programme was off site prefabrication, allowing for parallel progress in a factory and onsite whilst preventing the weather disturbing progress.

Artelia delivered the project on target and on budget with the new Peter May Stand creating increased revenue from ticket sales, improved accessibility to the stands and an enhanced spectator experience.

Richard Ashton Senior Building Surveyor at Artelia, responsible for the project, comments:
“In my humble opinion, the new Peter May stand is not only a great achievement in design; construction and project delivery, but also represents another significant investment by the Kia Oval in the future of cricket. The enhanced spectator experience that the new stand delivers can only serve to attract more people to watch cricket and ultimately inspire another great generation of players and supporters. I am very proud to have been part of it”.

About Artelia

Artelia is an international multi-specialist engineering firm able to offer its clients in the public and private sectors an original approach to engineering, project management and consultancy that meets the expectations of a fast-changing world. Artelia UK is ranked in the top 150 consultants, in the top 20 Project Managers and top 50 Quantity Surveyors*.

Artelia operates across in nine markets: building construction, water, environment, energy, maritime, urban development, transportation, industrial facilities and multi-site projects. The group’s full-time staff members currently exceed 3,350 divided among more than 90 sites: 42 offices in France and 53 offices in 37 countries.

• Survey by Building Magazine of over 500 consultants.

Peter May Stand Kia Oval Building images / information received 190716

Kia Oval Kennington Cricket Ground building photo from Miller Partnership