London Mayor Sadiq Khan has approved the immediate spending of up to £10million to bring key parts of the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace back into use, providing for urgent repairs to the Olympic-sized swimming pool and for the outdoor 400-metre track and indoor training area to be up-graded.
Time for change: the stadium at Crystal Palace NSC has been badly neglected for the past decade
The move comes after more than three years of dither and delay by the Mayor and Greater London Authority, which has responsibility for the centre. Mayor Khan previously pledged to get the pools repaired in 2021.
The pools have been unusable following the sports centre’s closure for the first covid lockdown, when the main swimming and diving pools were drained and structural cracks discovered in the 60-year-old facility.
Mayor Khan has also pledged a longer-term commitment to a “once-in-a-generation redevelopment” of the site, which in its notable history has hosted early FA Cup finals and rugby union internationals, as well as World Cup athletics meets and even a Papal visit.
According to a report in The Times, “senior figures hope Crystal Palace could eventually provide British athletics with an alternative home to the problematic London Stadium in the capital”.
Mayor Khan said, “Crystal Palace National Sports Centre is a historic and much-loved sporting and community facility where many UK sporting stars have started their careers and trained, but which is in need of major investment and refurbishment.
‘Completely committed’: London Mayor Sadiq Khan
“I am completely committed to this once-in-a-generation redevelopment of the site which will secure its future for decades to come. While work continues apace on our vision for the long-term future of the centre, I am delighted to announce that we intend to make a number of early improvements that we hope will make a huge difference to users of the centre.
“Over the coming months, we will continue to work closely with key stakeholders — including sporting bodies and wider community groups — to deliver an outstanding venue that our capital and our country can be proud of.”
The report further suggests that a longer-term scheme will see a planning application for the comprehensive redevelopment of the centre brought forward by next April, with work to begin in 2025. “It is estimated it will take five years to deliver the plan.”
The immediate, quick-fix, with spending “in single-figure millions” over the next 12 months – coincidentally, Mayor Khan is seeking re-election in May 2024 – should bring the badly neglected track and indoor training areas back up to usable standard, as well as installing replacement floodlights and upgrading the main fitness gym.
Splash or crash: the pools in the Grade II*-listed building at Crystal Palace Natinal Sports Centre have been dry since early 2020
The paper reports, “A complete overhaul of the stunning main centre, which was opened in 1964, will require investment running into tens of millions but a statement from his office said Khan is also committed to ‘comprehensively redeveloping the site, including a complete rebuild of the swimming pools’ structure and improved sporting facilities’.”
With a project director appointed, the longer-term proposals include “reviewing the scale of the athletics stadium”.
Issues with the 1960s concrete construction of the main stand were among the reasons given for the venue’s virtual abandonment by sports bodies and local government over the last decade, when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London, even though Crystal Palace had been designated to be a regional centre of excellence as part of the 2012 Olympic “legacy” plans.
Handover: when he was Mayor of London, Boris Johnson had plans to hand the NSC and a chunk of Crystal Palace Park to a Chinese billionaire
The additional complication for any planning is that the main sports hall and pools building is Grade II*-listed – restricting what can be done to the place structurally.
In his statement, Khan said the building needs to be “redeveloped sensitively, respecting its historic and architectural significance”.
And echoing what coaches and centre users have been saying since the turn of the century, Khan’s statement said, “maintenance alone will not solve the challenges facing the building, and a larger refurbishment project is required”.
As previously reported, it seems very likely that some of the funding will be provided by London Marathon Events, the not-for-profit foundation which organises a series of events, raising millions towards sporting projects in and around the capital.
THE TEN-YEAR SAGA OF THE PALACE’S NEGLECT
From 2013: Chinese government has role in £500m Crystal Palace scheme
2014: Coe’s company was given brief to bulldoze sports stadium
2018: Is the bell sounding for the final lap at Crystal Palace NSC?
2021: Mayor Khan agrees to repair Crystal Palace swimming pools
2022: Customers at Crystal Palace stadium could be left in the dark
2023: London Stadium deal could give Crystal Palace new lease of life
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