Green was always going to be the colour of choice when the most sustainable football club on the planet opted for a fresh new look.
From the solar panels on the roof of the grandstand to the meat-free match-day menu, Forest Green Rovers have established a unique identity within the game.
Chairman Dale Vince OBE is using football to spread his eco-message, with an organic pitch and plans for low-energy floodlights among a string of initiatives to reduce the Skrill Premier League outfit’s carbon footprint.
Crown Paints’ Specification Services came up with a colour scheme designed to enhance his vision of turning the club’s Gloucestershire home into the ultimate environmentally-friendly venue.
Feature walls in and around the reception area at the New Lawn were the first to be painted a shade of bespoke ‘FGR Green’ – created specifically for the club as part of a move to boost Rovers’ sense of identity.
It wasn’t long before the fresh new look, which also includes white and grey colours, was rolled out around the ground and now every area, from plush hospitality suites to the changing rooms, has been given the green treatment.
Mr Vince, who is also the founder of the ‘green’ energy company Ecotricity, said he was delighted by how the project panned out. “We’re the greenest football club in the world and we wanted a new look at our home ground to reflect just that.
“It’s the small details that can make a difference, both on and off the field, when you’re striving for success.
“To some clubs, the colour of the paint they use wouldn’t matter. But we couldn’t just choose any shade of green from a catalogue.
“We do things another way at the New Lawn and Crown Paints have helped that to happen.
“They came up with FGR Green as the official Forest Green Rovers paint and we’ve now used that throughout the ground.”
The type of paint used was naturally important to a club which even has a GPS-controlled, solar-powered lawn mower known as the Mowbot. And Crown Trade’s Clean Extreme Matt fitted the bill perfectly.
Crown Trade’s most hard-wearing and practical matt coating not only provides vibrant colour and a contemporary finish to enhance the interior styling, it also meets the club’s sustainability objectives.
The ‘scrubbable’ properties of the coating, together with intrinsic scuff and dirt resistance, means it’s a product which measures up to the most challenging of environments.
Mr Vince added: “The colour scheme around the ground looks great and the fact that the type of paint used is among the most sustainable available obviously sits well with our whole philosophy.”
Debbie Orr, Crown Paints’ Marketing Manager, said: “This is a superb project that with colour and sustainability combining to make a design real statement.
“Clean Extreme Matt offers durability and longevity as standard, so it’s perfect for a forward-thinking football club which prides itself on its green approach.
“It’s tough and stain resistant and walls can be scrubbed clean time and time again yet the paint finish always looks as good as new.
“Using this paint will considerably extend the club’s redecoration schedule and it’s therefore ideal for the most sustainable club in the world.”
Specifiers operating in the sports environments can also use Crown Paint’s online resource, PaintSpec Finder to choose suitable coatings for their facilities.
Available at www.crownpaintspec.co.uk the online tool delivers instant and detailed specifications using an intuitive and user-friendly interface, which can filter through technical information to pinpoint exactly what specifiers need for their chosen projects.
It then pulls together the specification into a report, with a personalised cover sheet showing the customer’s name, the project and the user’s own details.