Fresh start: with £130m of GLA funding behind it, work can now begin to refurbish the Crystal Palace sports centre
Bromley Council last night granted planning permission for a £130million refurbishment of the long-neglected sports centre at Crystal Palace, with plans backed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan that are to be funded by the Greater London Authority.
Councillors on Bromley’s planning committee voted unanimously in favour of the scheme.
The former National Sports Centre’s 50-metre swimming pool and diving pool have been dry for six years, since structural cracks were discovered in the Grade II*-listed building.
The athletics stadium, which was supposed to serve as a legacy centre for track and field after the 2012 Olympics, had been allowed to become overgrown and decayed since the London Games. The all-weather track was worn out, the indoor training hall regularly flooded, concrete in the stands was crumbling and even the floodlight pylons needed to be removed because they were in danger of collapsing.
The proposed redevelopment will include a 25,000-seat athletics stadium – up from the previous 17,000 capacity – which would be capable of hosting elite competitions. The pools are to be repaired and reopened, and there will also be a range of community sports facilities.
Record-breakers: Steve Ovett tracks Kenya’s Henry Rono on his way to a 2-mile world best at Crystal Palace in September 1978 – one of 28 world records set at the venue
It is hoped to have the work completed by 2028.
“The regeneration of this facility is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and it’s now firmly on its way,” Liam Conlon, the Bromley MP, said this morning.
The 37-acre centre, sited within the historic Crystal Palace Park, opened as a National Sports Centre in 1964, and was managed in the early years by the Sports Council. It provided the country’s first all-weather athletics track, and was the home of British athletics for more than 40 years.
Work on the site is due to begin soon, with Morgan Sindall appointed to carry out the works by the GLA. FaulknerBrowns is the project architect, while WOO Architects prepared the sports masterplan.
The approved work includes structural alterations to return the 50-metre competition pool and diving pool to use, according to Construction News. “The aquatics hall will accommodate shallow water, 25-metre swimming, 50-metre competition swimming and diving within one area.
Splashing the cash: after six years standing dry, the pools at Crystal Palace will now undergo significant repairs
“Morgan Sindall will also upgrade changing facilities, install new lifts and refurbish the facade to improve energy efficiency. A glazed screen will separate wet and dry areas to reduce noise and humidity.”
The plans include significant improvements to previous indoor training facilities, such as a 100-metre track, a climbing centre and an enlarged gym.
External work will create a six-court padel centre, 3×3 basketball courts, five-a-side football pitches and a full-size artificial multi-sports pitch.
Public realm improvements will see better access to the nearby railway station.
The project will remove the building’s old gas systems and introduce air source heat pumps and rooftop photovoltaic panels. The GLA says the work will cut the centre’s carbon emissions by 98%.
The GLA has been pondering over what to do with the sports centre for 15 years, from then Mayor Boris Johnson’s dodgy idea of selling it to a Chinese billionaire, to later, more tempered considerations of repairs and modest upgrades.
Then came covid, and the shock discovery of the serious structural issues with the pools which forced a significant re-think.
Delivery: London Mayor Sadiq Khan
The plans have the support of at least 15 sports national governing bodies, as well as Historic England, which praised the proposals for making the centre “fit for the future”.
Mayor Khan said: “This historic and much-loved national sports facility has created so many UK sporting stars, but it needs major investment and refurbishment and I am committed to delivering this.
“We now look forward to starting the next phase of work alongside partners and the local community to create an outstanding sporting venue, as we work together to build a better London for everyone.”
The sports project follows the £18million overhaul of the surrounding Crystal Palace Park, which last weekend celebrated the completion of its works, including the renovation of its world-famous Victorian dinosaur statues.
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