DARTFORD FC may have missed out on Wembley this season but the club is doing its bit to tackle climate change with a national eco-award nomination. 

The Darts' eco-friendly Princes Park Stadium has seen the club win a nomination for best initiative by a small or medium-sized business at the national Climate Week Awards.

The £6.5m build was completed in November 2006 with a host of green features including solar panels, motion sensor controlled lighting, water reclamation from the roof and lakes acting as reservoirs for maintaining the pitch.

Co-chairman Bill Archer told News Shopper: "When it was designed, we had been without a ground for 14 years.

"We wanted a stadium the people of Dartford could be proud of and that any team visiting would wish they had.

"We’ve had three promotions in five seasons and play teams with considerably bigger grounds who have come down from the Football League who say ours is the most eco-friendly.

"Everything we do, we want to do first class."

The Darts are up against Albert: a British Academy of Film and Television Arts sustainability scheme; eco-friendly Scottish hairdressers Elan Hair Design and the Allerton Project Game and Wildlife Conservation trust in Leicester.

The results will be announced at the House of Commons Climate Week reception on March 4.

Kent County Council is also keeping its fingers crossed after being nominated for best climate ready initiative for its severe weather impacts monitoring system.

National Climate Week runs from March 4 to 10 after the 2012 version saw half a million people attend 3,000 events across Britain.

News Shopper: Princes Park

A resovoir used for watering the pitch.

Princes Park features

Two man-made lakes: 1,300sqm and two metres deep, these irrigate car parks, the football pitch and two neighbouring nine-hole golf courses. A football pitch requires around 20,000 litres of water a day to keep it in prime condition.

Living roof: The single-storey terraces and two-storey clubhouse are partially buried into the ground to minimise the impact on the local landscape. It is covered by timber beams and a living sedum roof meaning the small plants absorb water and provide good insulation..

Motion sensored lighting: Cuts down on electricity costs.

Solar panels on roof: For heating the water