London 2012 Basketball Arena | 12,000 Capacity | Demo

[RMB2007]

Barr ponders turning Olympic arena into 'Andy Murray' academy

Exclusive: Barr Construction wants to convert its Olympic Basketball Arena into a Scottish tennis centre of excellence following calls for investment in the sport from tennis star Andy Murray.

Olympic gold medal winner and US Open champion Andy Murray said this week that he wanted to see a new national tennis academy built in Scotland in addition to the national centre for tennis based at the University of Stirling.

CN has learned that owner of the basketball arena Barr Construction will hold talks to convert the 12,000 capacity arena into a tennis centre of excellence as one of several options being considered.

Others include converting the arena into a football centre of excellence in east Scotland, or forming part of a new leisure development in the south of England.

The mayors of Rio and London had discussed the arena being moved to Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games, but the move is now unlikely to materialise, with Barr exploring discussions with several interested bidders in order to avoid the “nightmare” option of scrapping the stadium.
Rio’s interest

Organisers of the Rio games had wanted the capacity of the arena extended from 12,000 to 18,000 seats. Barr were able to add seating grids to extend capacity to 16,000, but those constraints plus high import charges in Brazil look to have scuppered the bid.

Barr Construction visited Rio in January to talk to organisers about the potential to move the arena to the next Olympic Games.

Barr’s managing director Barclay Chalmers told CN: “When we first priced the job we wondered whether its legacy use may be good for Glasgow 2014 but it became clear when the mayors of Rio and London were talking they thought it would be good for Rio.

“We did some work on the arena so we could utilise everything and still comply with building regulations and we managed to increase the capacity to 16,000 but they thought 18,000 was important [in order] to commit.”

Mr Chalmers said that high import duty charges meant that the stadium being bought by Rio would have had a heavy cost, and organisers asked Barr to lease the stadium to them instead.

He said: “That wasn’t an attractive option for us. Between shipping it and having it erected and then after three years having to take it away again wasn’t a commercially viable option. The momentum went and the trail has gone a bit cold but we have had a number of other enquiries on it.”

Mr Chalmers said: “We are keen to move it to its resting place as one, co-ordinated operation. The last thing we want is to have to scrap it – that would be a nightmare. We are in discussions with the legacy bodies who require us to be there in January so if we don’t have a permanent venue we will have to make a decision.”

He added: “Because it has effectively been bought and paid for, there would be a considerable discount on the original price. We would like to resolve it as soon as we can to cut down on transport and storage costs.”

Tennis academy

Among the future options for the arena is, following Andy Murray’s success in winning gold at the Olympics and claiming the US Open this month, turning it into a tennis centre of excellence.

The Olympic champion, and his mother and tennis coach Judy Murray, met with Socttish first minister Alex Salmond on Sunday to discuss the idea of a new tennis academy.

Barr estimates the basketball arena - which is 140 metres long, 96m wide and 33m high - could hold between 15 and 20 tennis courts.

Mr Chalmers said: “There has been a huge increase in interest in tennis thanks to Andy’s wins and that is an avenue we think would be worth re-energising. The tennis options would be an important one to follow-up. Another would be a centre of excellence for football.”

Barr Construction has previously built major sports villages at Stirling and Aberdeen, where Aberdeen football club have trained on the full-size indoor pitch.

Barr has also held talks with a un-named developer about the arena forming a central part of a new sport and leisure development in the south of England.

Though Mr Chalmers would not give the name of the client due to ongoing discussions, he said it represented the “biggest interest” of the viable options for the arena’s future home, though Barr is still seeking offers for the stadium.

Olympic contract

Barr won the £58 million contract to build and own the stadium in July 2009. It rented the venue to the Olympic Delivery Authority for use in the Olympics and Paralympics and will start stripping out the stadium in January.

Mr Chalmers said: “We are keen to move it to its resting place as one, co-ordinated operation. The last thing we want is to have to scrap it – that would be a nightmare. We are in discussions with the legacy bodies who require us to be there in January so if we don’t have a permanent venue we will have to make a decision.”

He added: “Because it has effectively been bought and paid for, there would be a considerable discount on the original price. We would like to resolve it as soon as we can to cut down on transport and storage costs.”

Mr Chalmers added that the arena could still go to Rio if main contractors on the 2016 games were interested in buying the stadium under a form of PFI deal favoured by Brazilian authorities for the 2016 Olympics.

http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/2012-ol...&contentID=516

[gorgu]

Originally Posted by RMB2007

http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/2012-ol...&contentID=516

Perhaps this could be sited near the NISA and Chris Hoy Velodrome for a concentrated centre of sporting excellence in Glasgow?

[RMB2007]

Sports fans lucky enough to get tickets crowded into the Basketball Arena on the Olympic Park to watch athletes battle for a gold medal, but anyone visiting now would be even harder pressed to find a place to sit - as all seats have been removed from the venue.

These pictures show the last seat being taken out as part of the ongoing transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Of the 12,000 seats which have been taken out, 7,000 have been sold and 3,000 will be used in the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, being built in Eton Manor, where the wheelchair tennis was held in the summer.

The remaining 2,000 will be made available through the rental market.

The Basketball Arena will be completely removed by summer, when work will begin to create 850 new homes in its place as part of the Chobham Manor development.

The arena, between the Athletes Village and the Velodrome, is one of three temporary venues being removed by the London Legacy Development Cooperation (LLDC), the body in charge of the Park’s transformation.

Work has begun to dismantle the Waterpolo Arena, and the Riverbank Arena, where hockey was played, has already been taken down.

Sections of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will start to reopen in July after all the temporary structures and roads are cleared away, new roads and walkways are created to fully connect the Park to the surrounding area and bridges, parklands and venues are completed for permanent use

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news...rena_1_1785821

[jdjones]

It was a great arena, I wasn't sure it would be, but I was amazed by the atmosphere especially for murderball, wherever it heads next will be a place to go.

[RMB2007]

Want to buy it? Well, you can:

London’s Olympic Basketball Arena is put on the market as part of the sell-off of the Games’ 2012 temporary venues

London’s Basketball Arena, one of the most iconic buildings of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has officially gone on sale.

The arena, which is currently being dismantled from its site at the Olympic Park in Stratford, is the centre-piece of a huge sales drive designed to sell off temporary structures and tiered seating used across many of the Olympics and Paralympic venues last summer.
The sale of the arena is being organised by GL events Slick Seating, a UK company which won the contract to supply around 125,000 temporary seats to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It manufactured the arena’s entire internal seating structure, as well as grandstands used at a host of other Olympic venues, including the Riverbank Arena, the BMX track, Greenwich Park and Lord’s Cricket Club, which hosted the archery.

The basketball arena which, at 115m long and 35m high was the largest single temporary structure ever used at an Olympic Games, is available to buy as a complete package, including all 12,000 seats – incorporating a VIP seated area – stands featuring gangways, staircases and a large network of internal access corridors, a high-spec media platform and disabled access platforms.

Its distinctive exterior envelope, which made up of a steel structure covered with moulded PVC to give the building its distinctive rippled appearance, is also included in the sale, although buyers are welcome to only buy the interior equipment and commission a new replica envelope instead.

http://www.owen-brown.co.uk/latest.html

[Willrocks10]

It would of been better if it stayed in the Olympic Park.

[RobH]

Well, the Park doesn't really need two arenas what with the Handball arena being permanant. Share the love around.

[RMB2007]

Steel frame and fabric skin have been put on sale for £2.5m, whilst the 12,000 seats are also up for sale under a separate deal:

http://www.constructionenquirer.com/...a-up-for-sale/

[The London BestShard]

Unfortuntly Temporary Lovely Design tho.

[jdjones]

Thanks for letting us know :eyerolls:

[The London BestShard]

lool sorry