Changing Places Case Study: Durham County Cricket Club

Written by Kit Garrett
August 30, 2023

Despite being founded in 1882, Durham County Cricket Club wasn’t admitted to the County Championship until 1992. They’ve since gone on to win three County Championships and two One-Day Cups – and now they’re continuing their winning ways off the field, with the installation of a new modular Changing Places toilet.

Durham Cricket For Everyone

In 2022, against the backdrop of the ECB’s creation of the Independent Commission for Equality in Cricket, Durham Cricket published the latest iteration of their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plan, Durham Cricket For Everyone. Among improvements to diversity in its teams at all levels, a commitment to leading with accountability and commitments to improve the diversity of its workforce, the Club also made it a priority to

‘make the Riverside friendly and welcoming to all parts of the community.’

To achieve this goal, and to visibly demonstrate accountability to their wider EDI plan, the Club embarked on an ambitious programme of works to improve accessibility and inclusivity at their stadium, the Riverside Ground at Chester-Le-Street. Among these was the installation of a new modular Changing Places toilet, designed to increase participation amongst Durham’s contingent of disabled fans with complex needs or who require adult changing facilities.

RISE Makes the Team Sheet

Durham Cricket approached RISE thanks to our reputation for being the experts in modular Changing Places installations. We met with the grounds management team and senior leaders at the Riverside and, in concert, decided on a suitable location for siting one of our prefabricated pods. Paperwork signed and costs agreed we stepped up to the wicket.

Our surveying team went into bat first, taking detailed measurements at the site, confirming the location of utilities, and making recommendations for the necessary groundworks. They formed a productive pairing with our in-house design team, who worked together with key stakeholders at the Club to deliver finalised drawings, took instruction on finish preferences and made sure we had fantastic artwork for their feature wall. With planning and building control sorted by our admin staff, our groundworks team was able to get on-site and complete their end, making sure the base for the new pod was solid and the necessary hookups exposed. In the background, while this work was ongoing, Durham’s pod was fabricated to their exact specifications with regular updates provided to them every step of the way.

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A Challenging Afternoon Session

The location chosen for the new Changing Places toilet posed something of a challenge. In normal circumstances, our CPT pods are placed in wide open spaces that are otherwise unoccupied; if a client requires facilities closer to their premises, they will often opt for an internal adaptation over a pod. However, at Durham, a space was identified very close indeed to the existing ground – in fact, tucked in underneath an existing stand!

Though a first for us, this was no problem at all to accommodate. We always have comprehensive lifting plans in place before our crane operators even think about getting into their cabs and, on this occasion, we conducted an enhanced briefing with the operator to ensure they understood the process, the implications of negative outcomes, and that they could give us the confidence they were up to the job.

The result? A beautifully constructed prefab CPT craned perfectly into place without incident and hooked up by our fit-out team in less than 2 days with all the bits and pieces needed to conform to the BS8300 Standards for Changing Places Toilets.

A Big Win For Durham’s Disabled Fans

We were so proud to play a part in the transformation of the Riverside Ground into a truly inclusive space that serves the community it sits in. Our own Rise For Sport campaign came about in no small part thanks to inspiration from the passion displayed by the whole team at Durham Cricket, and we wish them all the success in the world as they continue their journey towards absolute equality.

Let’s Make A Winning Partnership