Integrated Professional Football Training Facility & Category 1 Football Academy.
Aston Villa Football Club were one of the founding members of the Football League and the Premier League.
They have been based at their current training ground, Bodymoor Heath, North Warwickshire since 1972. The site is in open countryside, in the greenbelt. HB Architects obtained planning permission for a new ‘state of the art facility’ in this very sensitive location.
The 8000sqm facility features a 3500sqm indoor playing area, four new full-size grass pitches with a goalkeeping training area, 15 changing rooms for sides from Under-9s through to the seniors, gymnasium and physiotherapy facilities and an indoor swimming pool.
The building work and formation of new pitches was completed in several phases over a two year period.
The external design of the facility takes a sensitive approach to the greenbelt location and is positioned and planned to minimise the impact on the open countryside. The chosen materials are sympathetic to the greenbelt location whilst creating a clearly contemporary facility.
The internal design utilises exposed structure to create legible exciting spaces.
The plan is compact, but the design allows natural light to enter the internal circulation spaces through fully glazed mono pitch rooves and internal spaces through large roof lights. The interiors walls and ceilings are completely white and the floors and joinery are natural timber.
