The English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EIS Sheffield) and iceSheffield have been officially incorporated into the city’s multi-million pound Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) project.
Located in the East End of Sheffield, the OLP is a joint venture between Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield City Council.
Former sports minister Richard Caborn, who has acted as the lead of the OLP project, said the addition of the two venues is another milestone in the plans.
“In EIS Sheffield and iceSheffield, we’ve got two of the best sporting facilities in the UK so it’s a real coup to secure the venues within the Olympic Legacy Park,” he said.
The centrepiece of the new OLP will be a multi-million pound Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) which will design, research, evaluate and implement health and wellbeing activities linking the medical, leisure and sports sectors.
Facilities will also include a community stadium – the new home for the Sheffield Eagles rugby club – a hotel, restaurant and a 3,000-capacity indoor sports arena. The arena will become the new home for the Sheffield Sharks basketball club.
It is expected that the community stadium will be ready in time for the 2016 rugby league season.