Blackbridge Community and Sports Hub, Gloucester

Award type: Full Award (Subject to post construction sign off)

Award date: 04 April 2024

Location: Gloucester

Project type: Community, Sports and Recreation

Applicant: Blackbridge Charitable Community Benefit Society

BwN Assessor: Wild Service

Blackbridge Community and Sports Hub is a proposed mixed sports and community development at Blackbridge Playing Fields, in Podsmead, Gloucester. The project intends to develop an existing sports fields site into a specialist local Hub, complete with a new Hub building, multi-use sport pitches, and associated landscaping and green infrastructure.

A key principle of the masterplan is to create an attractive, green and welcoming atmosphere for users and the local community. The project team embedded the principles of Building with Nature from the outset to help achieve this objective. From a Green Infrastructure perspective, the proposals include 106 new trees, 150m of new species-rich native hedgerow, natural rainwater attenuation basins and wildflower planting. In total, the GI proposals deliver a 22% net gain in biodiversity and new habitat opportunities across the site, and provide connectivity for visitors between the sporting areas and the natural environment.