Proposed | Woodbourn Road Stadium Redevelopment

[Steel City Suburb]

Thought we could have a new thread on todays announcement.

Link has an early render

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/seb-co...sure-1-5488369

PLANS for the provision of world-class athletics facilities in Sheffield, despite closure of Don Valley Stadium, were welcomed by Jessica Ennis’ coach Tony Minichiello today.

But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg criticised the council for ‘keeping secret’ the higher cost of redeveloping Woodbourn Road athletics track when setting its budget on March 1.

Mr Minichiello, a staunch critic of plans to close Don Valley, said: “I’ve always believed investment of up to £2 million is needed to make Woodbourn a bona fide athletics facility. I went on record to say the £100,000 to £150,000 initially proposed wasn’t enough. Even in 2011, council officers said it would cost at least £200,000 to £300,000 to bring Woodbourn back into use.

“The proposals to invest a much larger sum would be very promising - but the council should have been more upfront about what it was planning.”

Minutes from a February 4 meeting of the working party, headed by Richard Caborn to discuss the future of the stadium site, have been seen by The Star.

The papers reveal: “The total envisaged cost of reparations and developments at Woodbourn Road is in the region of £1m to £1.5m.”

And the up-to-date plans announced by former Sheffield Central Labour MP Mr Caborn are for a more expensive proposal, costing up to £2.5m.

During Sheffield Council’s budget meeting on March 1, when £50m of cuts were approved including closure of Don Valley Stadium, councillors claimed it would cost only ‘£100,000 to £150,000’ to bring Woodbourn back into use.

The revelation follows concern the council may have overstated the subsidy needed for Don Valley Stadium to justify its closure, and make a political point to the Government about the impact of cuts.

The council leadership has quoted a subsidy of £700,000 - some 40 per cent higher than the £500,000 subsidy paid two years ago.

Mr Clegg said: “These latest revelations raise a serious question mark over the Labour council’s motivation for closing Don Valley Stadium.

“It is becoming apparent that nowhere near the level of savings will be achieved.

“Labour councillors can no longer hide behind blaming others for their decision. It is clear the stadium could be kept open, if there was the required political will in the Town Hall.

“The case for closing and demolishing Don Valley Stadium doesn’t stack up financially and it is the wrong choice for our city.

“Demolishing the stadium would undermine hard work to promote Sheffield as a premier place to invest.

“What’s more, it would also deny our young people the same opportunities sporting heroes such as Jessica Ennis were able to benefit from. The council needs to listen and think again.”

Sheffield Council cabinet member for sport, Coun Isobel Bowler, said: “We had no intention of misleading people over the cost of bringing Woodbourn Road up to standard.

“The maximum amount of money the council has available is £150,000, and we are hoping we could receive funding from Sport England and UK Athletics.

“Mr Caborn’s working party’s proposal is to build the best possible facilities.”

Decision to close Don Valley ‘should not be viewed as a blow’

SEBASTIAN Coe has defended Sheffield Council’s decision to close down Don Valley Stadium.

The Sheffield-raised Olympian, who is chairman of the British Olympic Association, said he can understand the decision to close Don Valley - but insisted the case should not be viewed as a blow to the idea of building a positive London 2012 legacy.

Sheffield councillors confirmed earlier this month that the 25,000-capacity venue, where Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis trains, is to be demolished to save money.

Jess has spoken of her disappointment at the plan, while her coach Toni Minichiello said he feels ‘gutted and angry’ by the move, claiming it will be a major setback for athletics in Sheffield.

Commenting on the proposed closure for the first time, Lord Coe said he could sympathise with Sheffield Council’s view of Don Valley Stadium as a drain on resources after it spent £700,000 subsidising it last year.

He said the proposal for redevelopment work at the smaller Woodbourn Road Stadium nearby was ‘thoughtful’, and that if Sheffield still retains a ‘proper’ track and field training facility it could represent an important step in the right direction in terms of legacy after last summer’s London Games.

Speaking in Rio de Janeiro, ahead of the Laureus World Sports Awards, Lord Coe said: “If you have a stadium in Sheffield, where there is clearly not a commitment locally to be a home for international track and field, and it is a 25,000-seater facility, I can understand why a local authority has to look at that and make some decisions.”

[Bladerunner]

[Irish Blood English Heart]

Are those the floodlights from Don Valley?

[Steel City Suburb]

Would make sense to recycle if they are suitable.

[Bladerunner]

I think those floodlights are great, a real landmark. They can be seen miles away.

[Irish Blood English Heart]

Agree, would be a real shame to lose them, they'd be even more spectacular on top of the hill at Woodbourne Road!

[Master_P]

Call me a cynic but wouldn't Don Valley stadium just look the same as the above if you demolished the main stand (or downsized it) and got rid of flame hill

[robhundall]

Originally Posted by Master_P

Call me a cynic but wouldn't Don Valley stadium just look the same as the above if you demolished the main stand (or downsized it) and got rid of flame hill

It's a 400m track, so yes.

The problem with that solution is that Flame Hill is absolutely enormous - it was the spoil where they dug out the bowl for the track. It would cost an extraordinary sum to clear Flame Hill any other way than by infilling the DVS bowl.

The other problem is the layout of DVS. It's at a jaunty angle which makes the rest of the site more awkward for development. That said, the image that was proposed doesn't make the most of the footprint either - it could be far more densely developed IMHO.

[Cogitator]

Originally Posted by robhundall

It's a 400m track, so yes.

The problem with that solution is that Flame Hill is absolutely enormous - it was the spoil where they dug out the bowl for the track. It would cost an extraordinary sum to clear Flame Hill any other way than by infilling the DVS bowl.

The other problem is the layout of DVS. It's at a jaunty angle which makes the rest of the site more awkward for development. That said, the image that was proposed doesn't make the most of the footprint either - it could be far more densely developed IMHO.

Great, it's not as if Sheffield had such a shortage of hills that they had to go ahead and make another.

[robhundall]

Originally Posted by Cogitator

Great, it's not as if Sheffield had such a shortage of hills that they had to go ahead and make another.

To be honest, it made complete sense at the time. By sinking the track and much of the seating below ground level they were protecting somewhat against wind, which is obviously crucial in athletics. It was a well thought-out design for its primary purpose, it's just a shame that other uses for the site couldn't have been designed into it at the time.

The ground was probably contaminated to some extent, too. Piling it up next to the stadium probably saved a lot of money.

[slother]

I'm also skeptical of when people try and shift blame onto minor points, as Caborn did in blaming Flame Hill. If DVS is either truly viable or it isn't; Flame Hill doesn't make a blind bit of difference. I went between to two sites last summer between the Ennis fever at DVS and Sheftival at EIS. I thought the connections between the two were rather nicely done.

[robhundall]

Originally Posted by slother

I'm also skeptical of when people try and shift blame onto minor points, as Caborn did in blaming Flame Hill. If DVS is either truly viable or it isn't; Flame Hill doesn't make a blind bit of difference. I went between to two sites last summer between the Ennis fever at DVS and Sheftival at EIS. I thought the connections between the two were rather nicely done.

Did Caborn blame Flame Hill? There's nothing wrong with Flame Hill at all, other than it occupies SEVEN acres of land that makes no money whatsoever for SCC. In fact, it will presumably make a loss in terms of maintenance, though the last couple of times I've been there it is so litter-strewn that I don't think they spend much time on it at all. Flame Hill isn't to blame for DVS' failure, but if it weren't there, and there had been a building on that site contributing to the balance sheet for 22 years, it might have made a difference to the viability of the stadium.

The whole of the DVS site is 25 acres - 10.5 acres for the stadium itself, 7 acres for Flame Hill, 4.5 acres for the car park and 3 acres on to Atterclliffe Common. So that's 10 acres making no money and 15 acres losing money.

25 acres is about the size of Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield Arena and its car park combined! I can't imagine a more stark difference between two similarly-sized, adjacent pieces of land - both in terms of profit/loss and usage. With hindsight, the building of such a large (essentially) single-use venue was always going to lose money.

Surely it's a sensible idea to reconfigure the whole site and get some buildings on it to make a contribution? For me, the more densely-packed and busy, the better it will be for everyone in Sheffield.

Woodbourn Road could be a fantastic athletics facility at relatively little cost. It will probably run at a loss, but that would be what you'd expect for such a facility.


[I just heard Gary Richardson interviewing Seb Coe about it on Radio 5. He asked about DVS being knocked down and replaced by a £40m stadium. Did it make financial sense?

The PR exercise by SCC has been truly dreadful. Even if it was a political gesture, that has backfired enormously. Caborn also failed to properly get across the scheme and the costs; he left it up to the reporters to calculate figures rather than give them a ballpark figure for each new venue and who would be paying for them. Leaving Sheffield Athletics Club and Hallamshire Harriers out of the discussions and announcement was also bizarre and disrespectful.

I genuinely think that this project might well be viable, at least in part, but some good PR might have gone a long way to helping making it become a reality.]

[lewisskinner]

Another advantage of the Woodburn Road site is that it's right beside Powerleague, so it forms part of a sports hub. maybe some money could be made available to upgrade this facility too?