Eric Wright begins building Lancashire cricket facility 

Located in Farington, the complex will provide a second home for the county’s cricket club and house a centre of excellence for women’s cricket in the North West. 

Eric Wright Construction has been appointed to deliver the project, which is being developed by Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Cricket. 

With a 19-month build time, it is hoped that cricket could be played at Farington in the 2025 cricket season. 

James Eager, director at Eric Wright Construction, said: “This is a going to be a superb new sporting facility and we are incredibly proud to have been appointed by LCC and Lancashire Cricket to deliver this for the region. 

“As a Lancashire based business enhancing the facilities within our community is really important to us and we’re excited to have now started on site with the support of our local labour force.” 

Designed by BDP, the development will be constructed on Green Belt land off Stanifield Lane close to the M65 and M6 in South Ribble.  

The complex will feature a pair of pitches, a pavilion, practice nets, and a car park.    

Mark Chilton, director of cricket performance at Lancashire Cricket, said the facility will “bring together elite and community cricket”. 

“It’s something that we’ve been working on, alongside Lancashire County Council, for a long while now and the development will provide top-class elite facilities for both our men’s and women’s side which can also serve recreational cricket and the wider community at the same time,” he said. 

“Our aim is to have cricket take place by the end of the 2025 season and we are all incredibly excited at the Club to watch the progression of the site over the next couple of years. We would also like to thank Lancashire County Council for all their assistance with the project.” 

The ECB provided £1.6m in funding towards the development of the new facility. 

Clare Connor, ECB deputy chief executive, said: “This new facility in Farington will create a community cricket hub which Lancashire will be proud of, serving diverse groups of participants in our sport. 

“It represents one of the ECB’s largest ever investments because of its scope; it will become a professional standard hub for women’s and girls’ cricket, a regional development centre for disability cricket, and a place which will be used by state schools, local clubs and community groups. 

“In doing so, Farington will directly support many of the game’s priorities, through long-term growth and connecting more communities through cricket.” 

As well as BDP, the project team for the complex features Eric Wright Construction as contractor, Barton Willmore, now Stantec as planning consultant, and Urban Green as landscape architect. Urban Green also advised on arboriculture, biodiversity net gain, and landscape planning.