Going Green – Dartford FC on ‘Sustainable’ Target

On the eve of the new 2010/2011 Football Conference season in England, David Cockcroft, a new contributor to Just Football, gives us the lowdown on newly promoted Dartford FC and their unique, environmentally friendly stadium.

Football and sustainability are not often words associated with one another, but Conference South outfit Dartford Football Club can be the catalyst to tackle this. After fourteen years of ground sharing, ‘the Darts’ have enjoyed a successful start at their new home, Princes Park, the UK’s first sustainable football stadium.

The stadium, designed by architects Alexander Sedgley, brings together a number of sustainable ideas whilst still operating as a practical football ground. The project was led and financed by the local council and the design team employed were keen to implement as many green ideas as was feasibly possible.

“The leader of Dartford Council initially took a ‘Jeremy Clarkson’ view but by the end of the project he had seen the benefits that came in publicity and credibility,” explains architect Roger Sedgley, whose design team’s sustainable ideas proved instrumental in achieving planning approval.

The main concerns surrounding the project were how much parking and noise the stadium would generate. To appease these fears a match day controlled parking scheme was agreed. The scheme known as ‘the fast track route’ is run by the Arriva bus service, offering cheaper tickets to Dartford FC season ticket holders. It runs from Dartford to Gravesend, stopping directly outside the stadium for fans.

Environmental noise surveys overcame the noise pollution issues, with results concluding that there would be more noise coming from the road than the stadium.

The project went to site in October 2005, 3 months after planning was approved, and Dartford co-Chairmen Bill Archer and David Skinner were invited onto the design team to represent the football club, ensuring ‘green’ design elements tied in with what needed to be a workable football stadium.

The original proposal was met with objections from local residents who were fundamentally concerned about having an eyesore erected in their town. After numerous meetings with the design team, adjustments were agreed so that when it came to final approval all objections had been successfully countered.

With the locals on side and planning permission approved, ‘the Darts’ could finally end their fourteen years in ‘limbo’ and look forward to a new, environmentally friendly home.

Eco-friendly

The £6.5 million pound scheme took just over a year from going out on site to completion. It incorporates many eco-friendly design elements and has set a benchmark of sustainability within the game of football.

The pitch is watered through artificial channels and pipes, which transport water from two nearby lakes that store water run off, including the deposits drained back from the stadium’s roof. These lakes were carefully designed so that over the course of an average year they are able to hold enough water needed to maintain the pitch, eliminating the use of water from the mains supply.

Solar panels power most of the hot water and under floor heating facilities, and even the roof’s surface is natural, formed with turf.

The stadium was built to blend in with the surrounding countryside, avoiding the striking eyesore many local residents originally feared. A curved roof and sunken pitch were used to create this effect. The dropped level to surrounding terrain also reduces the amount of extra light the floodlights inflict on the area.

While off the pitch Dartford are creating fresh, sustainable ideas for football stadia, on it they are aiming to surpass past glories of the 1980s.

Glory days

The eighties saw Dartford lift no less than nine trophies in a period that launched the management career of former England player and manager Peter Taylor, who took the helm for four lavish years, picking up six honours in various cup competitions.

Before the move to Princes Park, the Kent outfit’s most recent silverware came in the form of the Kent Senior Trophy, won in 1996, a decade before the opening of their new home. The club’s last league title was won in 1984, when they claimed their fourth Southern League Championship, two years before Taylor’s arrival. Going into the new venture it was safe to say that Dartford’s trophy cabinet was well overdue an addition.

Dartford were relocated to the Ryman League Division One North for their first full season at Princes Park. The 2007/2008 campaign became their first and only showing in this particular division as they were crowned Champions at the first time of asking.

Alex O’Brien became the first ‘Darts’ Captain to lift a league trophy at their new home, and a new chapter to the club’s 122-year history was perfectly written as the trophy barren years came to an end. Princes Park now not only stood for sustainability but that of success too.

Promotion to the Ryman’s elite was the reward and Dartford didn’t waste much time in claiming their first Ryman Premier League title. Following a more than respectable eighth place finish it was the 2009/2010 season that really put Dartford back on the non-league map.

Dartford’s stronghold started with a fifteen game unbeaten league run. It took until late November for them to taste defeat in the Ryman top flight, being halted by a 1-0 home defeat to Hornchurch.

After being crowned Champions on Saturday 10th April 2010, following a 6-2 away win at Kingstonian, ‘the Darts’ went on to complete a memorable season unbeaten in their final nine league outings.

An eighteen point gap achieved with over a hundred goals scored see Dartford move up another step on the football pyramid, into the Blue Square Conference South Division.

Dartford’s rise up the ranks of non-league football has been just as quick and as natural as the erection of Princes Park itself. It seems the project has awoken a sleeping giant of non-league football, a club that now have the facilities in place to match their growing ambitions.

David Cockcroft is a freelance writer who can be found at his personal website www.davidcockcroft.webeden.co.uk.

(pic via DartsBlog on Flickr)

Dartford FC, Non-League Football, Politics and Society, Stadia