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PROPOSED HUB IN A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN Architecture firm Holmes Miller has submitted a planning application on behalf of the Rugby Football League (RFL) to Manchester City Council for its proposed new education and training facility in the Beswick area of the city.
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n 2019, the Rugby Football League (RFL) received an independent report setting out that due to the Rugby League having a reach, visibility and value beyond its core followers, it has an opportunity to make a major contribution to health outcomes, crime reduction, improved education and employment outcomes, volunteering opportunities and improved life satisfaction. The OurLeague Life (OLL) concept was born out of this strategic ambition to capitalise on Rugby League as not just a great sport but also a vehicle for social mobility.
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OurLeague Life will be a hub and spoke model: celebrating, expanding and rolling out existing good practices in Rugby League communities across the north of England, adding value and providing coordination. Land off Grey Mare Lane is the proposed site for the unique facility to be shared between Rugby League’s elite athletes, community players, coaches and match officials, and young people and adults from the local area.
Facility details The submitted plans detail a two-storey building and adjacent grass pitch, plus a small pitch-facing stand attached to the main building, which would serve as an education and training base for people to begin developing their ‘big match’ skills. Teaching and seminar spaces will also provide additional space for locals, sports professionals and community groups to participate in the range of
training and support which will be on offer as part of the RFL’s outreach effort. On the first floor, a conference room and servery with a capacity of 200 people has been designed. This space will serve as a highquality teaching and event space for the RFL to use during its outreach programme. Meanwhile, on the ground floor, the hub’s kitchen is designed to provide catering facilities to the maximum occupancy of 200 people. This kitchen will be served with both mechanical supply and extract ventilation. Both units will be demand-controlled and will create a negative pressure to ensure odours are effectively carried from the building.
Pitch and external lighting OurLeague Life’s Manchester hub will be illuminated for sports using LED floodlights mounted on aluminium columns circa 20m in height. The lighting will be designed in accordance with the sector’s Sports Lighting standards to provide Class One level lighting for international and national competition with illumination levels of 500 lux on the pitch. The lighting scheme will also account for guidelines on the Limitation of the Effects of Obtrusive Light from Outdoor Lighting Installations with an effort being made to protect well-inhabited rural and urban settlements from light pollution.
