Road Safety Audit at Villa Park
TMS have recently been involved in a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on highway improvements to the surrounding areas of the Aston Villa Stadium, Villa Park in Birmingham. TMS were commissioned by our client to carry out a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on Witton Lane and a simple priority junction to provide access to a car park within the grounds of the football stadium.
Originally built in 1897, Villa Park currently has a capacity of 42,657. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground has hosted sixteen England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. Villa Park has hosted 55 FA Cup semi-finals, more than any other stadium, and it is the 10th largest in England.
There is a planned redevelopment of the stadium, which will increase the capacity to over 50,000 and include over 7,000 sqm of public realm surrounding the Witton Lane entrance. As part of the redevelopment sustainable technologies such as solar panels, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and green roofs will be used.
Not only do we carry out Road Safety Audits at high profile football stadiums, but the concept of safety audit is also drilled down to grass roots football. TMS are regularly commissioned to carry out Road Safety Audits on new vehicle accesses to support the growth of football clubs in various towns and villages throughout the UK. More recently, we have completed a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit on behalf of Kibworth FC in Leicester on their proposed expansion, which consists of a new dedicated access for the growing club.
(Picture: proposed development of Villa Park, ©Aston Villa)
Over the years, TMS have also been involved in several bespoke road safety projects related to football stadiums, including The Hawthorns (West Bromwich Albion FC), Etihad Stadium (Manchester City), the old Ricoh Arena (Coventry City FC) and Brentford Community Stadium (Brentford FC).
We have also carried out a Road Safety Study at St George’s Park, the home of all 23 England Football Teams.
When carrying out Road Safety Audits and bespoke consultancy work related to stadia, one of the main considerations for our engineers is the movement and behaviour of large crowds, something which, at TMS, we have considerable knowledge and experience in.
If you have a scheme relating to a football stadium (or any other type of stadium) that requires a Road Safety Audit or a bespoke road safety project, then please call us on +44 (0)24 7669 0900 or please email Lorna Styring.