Proposed CURUFC building upgrade. Image: bb + c architects
Grange Road Ground
Image: bb + c architects
Image: bb + c architects
Image: bb + c architects
Image: bb + c architects
A thriving year-round venue for a range of sports and a home for rugby and football.
The Grange Road Ground is home to thousands of cherished sporting memories. As Cambridge Sport grows in breadth and impact, we want to build on this heritage and ensure that as many students as possible experience the life-enhancing benefits of sporting activity.
Our vision is to transform the Ground into a thriving year-round venue that enables a greater range of sports to be played including, rugby union, football, rugby league, Australian rules, and American football.
The supply of central, floodlit pitches in Cambridge is inadequate and the current Grange Road pitch is restricted to 8-12 hours of play per week.
Development of the Ground will provide a much-needed, modern, multi-sport facility, in a very accessible, central location near most Colleges. It will enhance competitive sports playing and help promote physical wellbeing for students and the wider Cambridge community.
Creating a first-class sporting facility for a world-class university
Transforming the historic University Football Ground on Grange Road sits at the heart of the University of Cambridge Strategy for Sport and Physical Activity 2023-2027. It will contribute significantly to participation and quality of experience for all students, from the Blues teams to College sports and individuals for whom sport is relatively new or inaccessible.
The aspiration is to transform the stadium into a more robust and sustainable venue by installing a durable, high-quality, all-weather surface, and improving the associated facilities. The new surface would enable far greater intensity of use for training and playing and improvements to the related facilities would make the Ground more accessible, enhance the spectating experience and increase the variety of purposes that the Ground will serve.
First-class facilities will significantly increase the number of students and community members playing sport at the Ground and an updated and easily reached facility will also attract more people to come and watch and enjoy the much-improved Ground.
Participating in team sports has been an integral part of my time here in Cambridge. It has provided me with such a supportive community and been an important outlet to destress after hard days of study. Through my time on both the football and rugby pitches, I have been lucky enough to build lifelong friendships and a great sense of belonging, as well as achieve in my sporting endeavours.
However, after 6 years of committee meetings and speaking to my fellow students it is clear that there is a large deficit in the facilities available for these teams and many others. Large amounts of time are spent trying to find suitable facilities that are ultimately inaccessible for many students, and often not appropriate for all-year training purposes.
A centrally located, floodlit venue with all-around access would be an amazing step—encouraging more students to participate in University sports and allowing those eager to excel in their discipline the opportunity to do so.
The time is right for a refresh
The Ground buildings are growing old, with health and safety requirements becoming more difficult to maintain. The time is right for a refresh of this superbly located and much-beloved venue.
The University is firmly committed to offering students a broad education at the highest international levels of excellence, but the UK higher education sector is grappling with a funding crisis, and the University’s costs are currently rising faster than income. Philanthropic partnerships have been vital to Cambridge’s success throughout its history and will be critical in delivering the vision for the Grange Road Ground.
What is needed
One of the main factors limiting the growth of participation in sports for our students is the lack of floodlit all-weather outdoor facilities and suitably located indoor space.
A floodlit artificial grass pitch (AGP) would enable use in most weather conditions and for many more hours each week, significantly increasing the number of students and community members playing sports. Currently, the number of hours used weekly for rugby training and matches (8-12 hours) have to be limited to protect the condition of the grass surface. A new pitch surface will enable several sports to be played on the site for many more hours (50 plus) each week. These include football (American, Australian Rules, Association), rugby league and rugby union.
It will allow students and other users to play on a consistent, quality surface, giving players a better experience. This will help to encourage more people to get involved in sports and to continue participating.
A wider impact
Improved facilities will also enable festival and finals events for College rugby union and football to go ahead, helping to sustain important activity programmes and encouraging players to participate and feel a greater connection to the University sporting landscape. The updated and easily reached facilities will encourage more people to watch games and enjoy the much-improved Ground. An increased number and wider variety of players and spectators using the venue benefits ancillary facilities—increasing revenue through bar and catering outlets.
The proposed upgrades will also have a positive environmental impact with new LED floodlighting and other improvements increasing energy efficiency, a new recyclable pitch surface vastly reducing the need for irrigation and all developments of the Ground will include a biodiversity net gain contribution as required by the planning process.
Next steps
The delivery of the proposed transformation of the Ground will enable this sporting legacy to continue to develop over the next 100 years. If you are passionate about sport and its power in promoting personal development, supporting wellbeing, and building community, please support this initiative.
You can donate online or to discuss your philanthropic goals we would be delighted to have a conversation with you. For further information, please contact:
Make a gift now
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Or, find out about other ways to give.
Derek Wilson
Head of Development — Sport, Music Performance, Clubs and Societies
