Bears High Performance Centre

The exemplar UK Professional Rugby Training Facility

The Bears High Performance Centre (HPC) is the training base and headquarters for Premiership rugby team Bristol Bears. The centre comprises a first-in-class gym, medical areas, sports science facilities and team meeting spaces alongside player change, relaxation areas, and catering. The facility is connected to a half-size indoor training pitch via folding doors and a viewing balcony at first floor level.

The design was derived from a detailed understanding of a ‘day in the life’ of a player’s diary of events and requirements for a typical day – this movement, flow and activity drove the layout principles of the building.

Hidden from view within a wooded clearing, the site is a former quarry in the North Somerset countryside—this unique condition prompted access into the facility via a link bridge into the upper level. The facility then allows for keys views in and out of the building, over the training pitch plateaus, and beyond to the Severn estuary. This mix of ingredients has produced a unique place that has been lauded in the Rugby world as an exemplar Rugby Training facility and enables the club to grow professional sport in the region.

Bears High Performance Centre

A benchmark facility for

UK professional sports

with a unique site and vistas

across the Severn Estuary