Leicester Ball Hall Construction Company North West B & E Boys Rossendale Close to Completion of £4m Project
The Leicester Community Sports Arena is pleased to announce that planning is well in hand to open the new Arena at a Launch ceremony at Charter Street on Wednesday, 27th January, 2016.
Representatives of the Arena partners, Leicester Riders, Leicester City Council and Leicester College, will be in attendance to mark the formal launch of the new venue, in addition to representatives of the project funders, including Sport England and the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).
The first Event at the Arena is planned to be on Saturday, 30th January 2016, when Leicester Riders are scheduled to play the Surrey Scorchers in a BBL Championship match.
Kevin Routledge, the Project Director of the Leicester Community Centre said,
“We are delighted with progress to date on the project, led by our main contractor B&E Boys, and are particularly pleased that work remains on or ahead of schedule.”
“There is still a considerable amount of work to be completed, but all the contractors are focussed on finishing ahead of the contract completion date.”
“The main risk is potentially severe weather early in the new year delaying completion of the some of the external works, but all the team on site, led by the Boys Site Manager John Finnegan, are working hard to mitigate that, and any other risks.”
“Now we have the newly appointed Managing Director Simon Ricketts on board, we are turning our attention in parallel to operational readiness.”
“But we have an excellent team amongst the Project partners, with some external support from Riders commercial partners, and everyone is motivated to do the necessary preparations so we can have a successful launch.”
“Much remails to be done, but we are confident of getting there.”
About the Leicester Community Sports Arena
The Arena project has three partners, Leicester Riders, Leicester College, and Leicester City Council.
The project is being funded by the partners, and Sport England and the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.
LCC owns the site at Charter Street and is providing a long term lease of the site (125 years) to a new company, Leicester Community Sports Arena Limited (LCSAL), owned by the Rider’s charity (Leicester Riders Foundation), with the company paying a commercial rent for the site. The Arena project is designed to allow the potential for the development of future additional facilities on site.
The Charter Street site was selected by the City Council following a detailed site selection process. It is noted the location is on a route of Connecting Leicester (to Abbey Park).
The £4.8m Project also included remediation of the contaminated ex-gas works site at Charter Street, and the provision of car parking and landscaping.
The Arena project build is led by the Riders through LCSAL, with an agreed management and governance structure with the Council and Leicester College.
The Arena will be the new home to the Leicester Riders and Leicester Cobras Wheelchair Basketball Club, but will also be a regional basketball centre of excellence. It will serve as Leicester College’s Sport teaching and learning facility, and as a large multi-use sports venue the local community.
The Arena will be operated with all surpluses re-invested in the Arena, or in sports community outreach activities in deprived local communities, as are already being delivered by the Riders through the Leicester Riders Foundation.
Leicester College will use the Arena during term time as part of the teaching and learning offer to all Leicester College learners attending sports courses. And all of the College’s 27,000 students would also be offered access to the facilities through a membership scheme for sports enrichment activities.
The Arena Business Plan leverages the very large community development programmes of Leicester Riders. The Arena will deliver highly structured community sports participation opportunities for the community.
The new Arena is located at 31 Charter Street, LE1 3UD.
Information and photos related to the Arena build can be found at www.leicestercommunitysportsarena.com