A joint venture between Derry based Heron Brothers Construction and English company Buckingham Contracting has been awarded the contract to build the new National Indoor Arena at the National Sports Campus in Abbottstown.
The National Indoor Arena will include a National Indoor Athletics Training Centre – including a 200m track; 60m sprint track; 110m sprint track; throw, jump and pole-vault areas; and permanent seating for 400 spectators which can be increased to 1,900 for key events.
It will also house a new National Gymnastics training centre and a multi-sport facility catering for over 20 sports in a variety of configurations; capable of being sub-divided into 3 separate areas with seating for 1,500 spectators.
There will be covered synthetic pitches with ancillary changing, strength & conditioning facilities and the bulk of the facilities are scheduled to be completed for November of 2016.
There are still alternative plans for the construction of a second arena which will incorporate a cycling velodrome and new base for Badminton Ireland.
The Heron Buckingham consortium are also the lead contractor on the currently stalled Casement Park redevelopment in Belfast but have massive experience in sport having delivered the the Kingspan Stadium redevelopment at Ravenhill (above) as well as the new Amex Stadium in Brighton and many more.
“The development of the National Indoor Arena is vital in terms of our sporting infrastructure,” said David Conway, Chief Executive of the National Sports Campus Development Authority.
“In addition to providing world-class training facilities for elite, high-performance athletes, the Arena will also play a significant role in the development of all levels of Irish sport – maintaining our goal at the Campus of providing National facilities that are also local amenities.”
“While predominantly a training facility, the spectator capacities will allow a wide number of sports bodies the opportunity to host national and international competitions – the opportunity to showcase Irish sport.”
Multi-functionality
“The multi-functionality of the Arena is very significant. The hydraulic track in the Indoor Athletic Centre will allow for its use as a venue for a variety of sports and events. At the same time, the Indoor Training Centre can be sub-divided into 3 separate units to allow different sports access at the same time or to allow for high-performance training to take place at the same time as participation or recreational activities.”
“The past two years have seen significant progress in the provision of both sporting and administrative facilities for a range of sports at the campus. However, the next two years will see the Campus take its next great leap forward with the provision of the missing piece of national sporting infrastructure – the National Indoor Arena. This facility will enable over 20 different sports access to world-class training and competition facilities, and will help drive the development of Irish Sport into the future.”
Also under development at the Campus at present is a new High Performance Centre at the Irish Institute of Sport, which will significantly increase the Institute’s service provision capacity; and a new multi-purpose Campus Pavilion Building (to provide conferencing facilities and changing facilities). Both of these projects are due to be completed this summer.
In addition, a range of field-sport facilities will be completed in 2015 – two new Multi-Sport Turf Pitches, accommodating Gaelic Games, soccer and rugby, being developed by NSCDA will be ready for use in Spring 2015; while both the GAA and the FAI are scheduled to complete work on their respective training facilities in March; while work has just commenced on a pavilion building to complement the GAA training facilities.
2015 will also see the commencement of work on a new HQ for Special Olympics Ireland.
