Fontwell Park grandstand in final furlong of awards race

A £6.5M development project at Fontwell Park has been shortlisted for a top industry award.

The 888sport Premier Grandstand is through to the final stage of the prestigious Construction News Awards in the category for projects under £10m.

The stand (pictured) was built by the Buckingham Group, who are also constructing the new Brighton & Hove Albion stadium.

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Fontwell is enjoying a flying start to 2011, having been crowned racecourse of the year in the Betview Awards and attracting the attention of media across the world when the horse Royal Wedding won at the track on the day of Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton.

The three-storey grandstand has 12 private hospitality boxes on the top floor, a glass-fronted hospitality and banqueting lounge for 300-plus people on the middle floor and a multi-purpose hall on the ground floor with new catering and betting facilities.

Every bit of the hard material generated from the demolition of the 1920s grandstand was reused in the construction of the grandstand, which was made more complicated by the need to protect an underground chalk aquifer, dismantling and re-building a Victorian folly and maintaining business as usual.

Phil Bell, general manager at Fontwell Park, said: “The new grandstand has transformed the racecourse and feedback from customers old and new has been overwhelmingly positive.

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“The project team involved in the construction were excellent and their professionalism enabled us to continue with our racing and non-racing events with minimal disruption. The team would be a very deserving winner.”

Project managers were London-based Arcadis and the architects were Manchester company AFL.