The Wigley Group has completed the construction of Wasps Rugby’s new state-of-the-art Elite Performance and Innovation Centre, giving the Premiership club one of the finest training complexes in English rugby.
It has taken six months to complete the work on the 13-acre site in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, which will be home to the men’s first team and academy.
The Elite Performance and Innovation Centre will be Wasps first permanent training ground of its own since leaving Sudbury in 1999.
It features a grass pitch which is identical in size to the pitch at the club’s home ground Coventry Building Society Arena. A 3G plus surface has also been installed next to the grass pitch to allow for training in all weather conditions.
Other work has included the creation of a purpose-built gym and the construction of a media centre, medical complex and offices for coaching and administration staff.
For player recovery there are two large hydrotherapy pools and a sauna.
To make the facility as eco-friendly as possible low energy LED lighting has been installed on the sport pitches and car parks, and Wasps has introduced significant waste recycling measures, including for the cut grass.
Wasps have also worked with ecologists and arborists to create a wildlife catchment area in a pond on the site, with the pool also providing a water run-off for the two rugby pitches nearby.