Breaking ground on new £5m community stadium at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park

Dignitaries from Sheffield City Region attended an official groundbreaking ceremony this week to mark the start of building work on the new 3,900-capacity stadium, which will host Sheffield United Women Football Club and Sheffield Eagles Rugby League Football Club.

The latest development is another major step forward for Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park which was established in the wake of the 2012 London Games to offer world-class sports, education, health and leisure facilities, new skills and jobs at the multi-million-pound site in the Attercliffe area of the city.

Former sports minister, and project lead, Richard Caborn, who attended the ceremony, said: “Today’s ground breaking is very important and another exciting step in the development around this 3G pitch where we’ve got both professional and community sports being played, as well as access for the students from the nearby school and technical college.

“This exciting facility has been developed by Scarborough International Properties Ltd, and will be built on the west side of the 3G pitch, which was completed in April 2017, and is used by Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, Oasis Academy Don Valley, and the local community.

“This is going to be a covered stadium, but it will also incorporate offices and facilities for corporate entertainment; possibly also for housing governing bodies of sport who want to come here and operate off the Olympic Legacy Park.”

Locally based Whittam Cox Architects, supported by Arup Sheffield, designed the stadium, which will include conferencing facilities, office space and covers approximately one hectare. GMI Construction has been appointed as the building contractor.

Building plans include more than 1,200 seats in the west stand with a further standing capacity of over 2,600 along a north and east terrace, and an additional 78 places for wheelchair users and their carers.

This next decade will see the start of a new era for the prestigious Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, following a transformational 2019 with several significant business, health, wellbeing and sporting milestones throughout 2020.

Mr Caborn added: “I’m excited to say we’ll be kicking off 2020 with some further significant milestones.

For more information, visit www.olympiclegacypark.co.uk, or follow @OLPSheffield on Twitter.