Building designs that advance health and wellness will be considered as part of £60m redevelopment plans.
The WELL Building Standard is the world’s first evidence-based system designed for measuring, certifying, and monitoring building features that impact on health and wellbeing. The trend is increasingly on the rise around the globe as emphasis shifts to how indoor spaces can improve quality of life.
Now, an expert in the field will be sharing his knowledge with the team who are behind the redevelopment of Leicestershire County Cricket Club’s Uptonsteel County Ground.
Rob Day is the newest recruit to the working party formed to push through plans for the £60m rebuild. With 40 years of experience, the Chairman and Founder of Blueprint Interiors, based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, will add a wealth of experience and passion to the group which also includes the likes of Steve Kind, who was instrumental in Leicester City moving to the King Power Stadium.
Day has a strong background in commercial property and has expertise in implementing the international WELL standard and will be working with the group to ensure the standard forms part of the planning and design.
Rob said: “When the ground redevelopments were announced it definitely piqued my interest and when Sean approached me to ask if I’d like to be a part of it there was no doubt. Leicestershire has a phenomenal asset there in terms of the ground itself and it is clear there is a strong team coming together with representation from ECB and the City Council. I think we’re all inspired, and we’re all driven by that shared passion for the club and the desire to see it succeed.
“At Blueprint we’ve evolved into more of a workplace consultancy-led business and that’s because we have a clear understanding of what people need to function and that undoubtedly will be of value to the club. We work to the WELL standard which is a global standard that concerns itself with the suitability of a building being for the people that are using it and because our own approach to the workplace is so human-centric, I’ll be able to feed this in through the working group to help create a space that is designed entirely around the people using it.
“I absolutely see the opportunity for Leicestershire as both a club and a business. There’s a real opportunity there to develop relationships with local schools and students that are surrounded by some particularly challenging demographics and cricket has got terrific potential to help us overcome that, I’m excited to get stuck in.”
Sean Jarvis, CEO of Leicestershire County Cricket Club, added: “It’s great to have Rob on board to help the ambitious plans we have for the club. He brings some really important insights to the team which will prove invaluable as we move into the next stages of the development.”
Other members of the working party include Bruce Cruse, Director of Facilities at the ECB, Tom Lomante, Head of Capital at Leicester City Council, Ian Kendall, Director of Leisure Projects at LCCC, and Chairman, John Thorpe.
