THIS IS what Crystal Palace National Sports Centre will look like in four years’ time following its £130million facelift.
SunSport can reveal the computer-generated images that were submitted last night as part of a planning application for the iconic South London site.
The hope is that the green light will be given within the coming months for the ambitious project to transform and redevelop the 15-hectare site in SE19.
Should that happen, then the major works could begin in earnest from the summer onwards.
The area – which hosted 21 men’s FA Cup finals, excluding replays, between 1895 and 1914 – has fallen into a state of disrepair over the past decade.
The Olympic-standard swimming pool has been abandoned, PIGEON POO had ruined the indoor track and there were leaks in the roof of the Grade II listed building.
Yet since the summer of 2023, construction has begun to restore the arena back to its former glory, starting with long-overdue track repairs and getting rid of previously unsafe floodlights.
The plan is for the majority of redevelopment to be done by 2029 – with full stadium renovation completed by 2030.
It has been given the backing of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has pledged millions to improve sporting facilities for the local community.
New partners are being sought to help bring forward the redevelopment of the stadium that could potentially host top-class athletics again.
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Future Diamond League meetings could be held there with the likes of Keely Hodgkinson, the women’s 800 metres Olympic champion, running in front of a capacity crowd of 35,000.
Jamaican sprinting superstar Usain Bolt ran there in 2009 – the year after he won three of his eight Olympic gold medals on the track.
The Centre, which opened in 1964, is just two miles from Selhurst Park, home of 2025 FA Cup winners Crystal Palace.
Morgan Sindall Construction have been tasked with delivering the design and build of the Centre and a planning application has been sent to the London Borough of Bromley.
Refurbishment will include an enlarged gym, new dedicated spaces for sporting clubs, the creation of a six-court padel centre, 3×3 basketball courts, five-a-side football pitches and a full-size artificial multi-sports pitch.
The diving pool and 50-metre swimming pool will return in the aquatics hall.
There will also be a new café, a 200-metre running track and an outdoor gym.
Richard Dobson, Area Director for Morgan Sindall in London, said: “The ideas that have been laid out in the planning application for Crystal Palace National Sports Centre’s transformative regeneration represent something quite ambitious and different.
“Everyone working on this scheme has pushed hard to make the design a showcase in what a modern, sustainable, inclusive and community-centred leisure centre should look like – all while paying homage to the venue’s inspiring legacy.
“This combination of driving factors means the site will not only reclaim its original vision of being a ‘glass pavilion in the park’ that supports the health and wellbeing of Londoners.
“But we will have laid the groundwork for a centre of excellence where a new generation of athletes can break and set their own records.”
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