Work has begun today on the construction of Leicester Riders Community Sports Arena.
The £4.5 million arena will be home to the Leicester Riders and Leicester Cobras Wheelchair Basketball Teams. It will also be a regional basketball centre of excellence, and serve as a large multi-use sports venue for the College and the local community.
The multi-purpose sports arena based in Charter Street, is a joint venture between Leicester Riders, Leicester City Council and Leicester College. All three partners are providing funding, along with the Sport England and the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP).
The site on Charter Street was formerly a gas works, as well as having a variety of industrial uses during it’s nearly 200 years of industrial heritage, and as a result the ground is contaminated. Due to this the site needs to be remediated.
Director of Leicester Community Sports Arena Limited and director of Leicester Riders Kevin Routledge said, “This is a very important and necessary stage in the project, and we are now delighted to get on with the reclamation works. Working on brown field sites involves a number of agencies, particularly as we are located on the Grand Union Canal, and the most thorough examination of all options have been considered.”
“We are now delighted to have been given the go-ahead and we can get on with the excavation and clean-up. That will then get the site to a condition that we can get on with the foundations and the building of the arena.”
The project is targeted for completion in late 2015.
