Bristol County Ground Player & Match Official Area (PMOA) | Bristol

Client: Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (GCCC)

Value: £3,300,000

Services provided: Concept Development, Planning Stage Design, Planning application, Detailed Design, Construction Stage Support. RIBA Stages: 0-6

International-standard refurbishment and extension of the Seat Unique Stadium.

Following a previous successful commission to redesign GCCC’s indoor practice facility, gcp were appointed to undertake an extensive refurbishment and extension of the PMOA at the Seat Unique Stadium.

The brief was to elevate the facilities to stringent ECB standards. The resulting intervention delivered four new international quality changing rooms, providing independent, equitable facilities for both men’s and women’s squads. The design was immediately tested and praised by the England Women’s Team during their International T20 victory over India in May 2026.

Alongside the state-of-the-art changing rooms, the scheme also introduced enhanced players’ lounges with direct pitch views, dedicated physiotherapy rooms, and a new players’ terrace and bridge that ensures secure, direct connectivity between the PMOA and the playing surface.

Match official provisions were similarly expanded, adding an extended umpires' room to accommodate additional personnel, a secondary shower room and an integrated kitchenette. On the ground floor, new changing facilities service the cricket centre, supported by separate coaches' changing rooms providing flexible overflow capacity, while a sliding-folding partition in the Jessop Bar allows the space to be seamlessly reconfigured between commercial hospitality and player dining.

Off-Season Delivery, The Commercial Challenge

For major sports venues, facility downtime represents a direct threat to revenue. A significant portion of the Club's income relies on hiring spaces, hosting external events and having an operational indoor practice facility. Consequently, the construction programme was heavily compressed, restricted to just 5 months of the cricket off-season.

Delivering a complex £3.3m structural refurbishment, extension, and full services overhaul within this tight timeline required meticulous pre-contract planning. Acting as Lead Consultant, Principal Designer, and Contract Administrator, gcp successfully managed these timescales using a traditional contract format. The club's hospitality function remained operational over the Christmas and New Year period, ensuring that vital revenue streams remained unaffected by the works. Alongside this minimised disruption, the venue was also fully operational for the start of the competitive domestic and international seasons.

Structural Innovation, 150m² Mezzanine

A major achievement of the compressed programme was the installation of a new 150m² structural mezzanine floor directly over the active cricket hall.

Beyond the structural complexities of inserting this floor template into an existing building volume, the design required rigorous detailing to ensure the new space coexisted safely with the high-impact sports environment. gcp designed and coordinated a sophisticated, integrated netting system to protect the mezzanine structure from flying cricket balls and commissioned a specialist M&E Consultant to design the renewed lighting system suitable for an elite cricket environment.

Extensive Overhaul of the Infrastructure

To future-proof the stadium and meet stringent international venue standards, the building’s dilapidated mechanical and electrical infrastructure was completely stripped out and replaced. The wholesale overhaul of the M&E plant replaced systems that were well past their effective operation expiry with highly efficient, contemporary alternatives. The upgraded specification introduces high-efficiency commercial boilers and full Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems throughout the facility, dramatically improving indoor air quality and climate control while reducing the building's operational energy footprint.

Elite, Inclusive Accessibility

Inclusivity and accessibility were core drivers of the spatial design, with every layout rigorously developed in strict compliance with Sport England's Accessible Inclusive Sports Facilities (AISF) design guidance.

International-Spec Changing Suites: All four independent changing rooms exceed 50m² in floor area and are wheelchair accessible. Each suite integrates dedicated physiotherapy rooms, built-in ice baths, and comprehensive ambulant and disabled toilets, showers and changing spaces.

Fluid Circulation: Corridors throughout the facility have been widened to a minimum of 1800mm, allowing wheelchair users and athletes carrying bulky sports kit bags to pass each other smoothly in both directions.

Seamless Connectivity: The scheme ensures level thresholds across all main zones, with the new mezzanine area seamlessly integrated and fully accessible via a carefully graded, ramped internal corridor.

[copy into image block description} Images Top to Bottom Left to Right Open vanity station; accessible shower cubicle; ramped access to away team change; accessible changing room; ambulant shower cubicle; second tier changing matches the accessibility of the first tier spaces; 1800mm wide circulation spaces throughout the design.