University

05 Nov 10

How the sports complex will look from Iffley Road

The University’s plans to redevelop the Iffley Road sports complex have received approval from Oxford City Council.

Under the plans, the existing sports centre will be redeveloped to provide new state of the art facilities catering for the University’s 84 sports clubs. The existing grandstand will be demolished and a new lower grandstand building will be constructed to meet the growing needs of cricket and projectile sports.

Jon Roycroft, Oxford University’s Director of Sport, said: ‘We are delighted that the City Council have approved our plans to improve and expand Oxford University’s sports complex. These much needed facilities will be used by University and college sports teams, the wider university and importantly the local community.

‘At the moment our athletes are jostling for space, so this will enable them to train more regularly in and around their academic studies, as well as expanding access to  a wide range of indoor sports.’

Seventy five percent of the 20,000 students at Oxford are estimated to take part in sports and there is growing community interest in the facilities on the Iffley Road site. The complex has been designed by Faulkner Brown Architects, whose recent work includes the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford and the new Dubai Aquatics Centre.

The University is now working towards raising the £39 million required for the project as part of the wider Oxford Thinking Campaign, which recently reached the £1 billion mark. The period through to the London 2012 Olympics will be critical in generating the necessary focus and interest for this vital project.

The key plans include:

•    The main sports centre building will include one double-sized and one single size sports hall linked and fronted by a timber and glazed structure housing the main entrance and atrium foyer, two storey gym facilities, cafe/restaurant, sporting rooms, meeting rooms and offices. This will front onto the famous running track where Sir Roger Bannister completed the world’s first sub-four-minute mile.

•    The current grandstand will be redeveloped and replaced by a new lower but longer building which contains an indoor cricket school, a projectiles range, spectator seating, changing rooms and meeting rooms. The proposed grandstand building will enhance existing views which are currently obstructed by the current grandstand.

•    The removal of the solid timber fence and installation of railings and key public view points along Iffley Road will open up views onto the site and the new buildings will be seen bordering the running track and set within the existing tree boundaries and landscape.