Dale Vince reveals plans for Forest Green Rovers’ new WOOD stadium with care home and hotel to be built above the Roman Villa

DALE VINCE has revealed Forest Green Rovers’ plans for an all-Wood stadium – with a care home, hotel and nature reserve on site.

But construction work could only begin after a massive 4-month archaeological excavation on a Roman Villa and artifacts were buried below!

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Vince, Founder of Ecotricity, and President of Forest Green Rovers, told SunSport: “There is a villa on the premises. It’s been known for quite some time, 50 or 60 years I guess.

“So we had to do a lot of digging around the football fields just to see if there was anything substantial else in the pitch that hadn’t been found before.

“So far, we have found pieces of pottery and a few coins, all expected near a villa.

“It would be great to find a mosaic or something, but we probably won’t.

“After that, we can continue to play the football field, which will be our first practical construction at Eco Park.”

Green energy company Electrocity is behind plans to build the club’s new home and an Eco Park on the Gloucestershire premises, located next to Junction 13 of the M5.

Plans include an all-wood stadium that will seat 5,000 people for the first time, and new training facilities for men’s, women’s and youth teams under one roof.

There will also be a care home, 100-bedroom hotel and a nature reserve complete with a new canal.

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Vince added: “The pictures of the stadium speak for me more than 1000 words. It looks unbelievable is all I can say.

“Wood is a beautiful material to be around. It’s so warm and lovely.

“The stadium will be like nothing else on the planet. And the experience in there will be amazing.”

The developers expect the building to contribute around £150 million to the local economy annually while generating £2 million a year for Stroud County Council.

There will be not only a care home but also a ‘life afterlife care village’.

Vince added: “I spoke to the School Board and it was something the district needed and there was room for that and so we added it to the plan.”

On the grounds there will be a luxurious nature reserve, with more than 2km of new fences, several thousand trees, wetlands and canals that will return.

The site is also expected to generate more than 80% of the energy used on its own.

Vince also hopes to create an academy for girls to use the training facilities with boys.

When asked about all the teams practicing under one roof, he said: “It’s important because right now, they all train in different places.

“We have an established youth with a couple of 100 kids in it. We have established an academy, girls’ team and first team.

“We also want to build a youth system for girls at the moment because of course it’s all boys.

“We will also bring that into the club. The important thing is that we are all in the same place you know the entire football family at Forest Green Rovers. “