Sporting-led regeneration: the role of sport facilities in London today

Talk

Thursday 11 February 2021
10:00 - 11:10

This webinar, part of The Changing Face of London, will present lessons learned from the last 15 years of sporting-led regeneration in the capital.

When the original Changing Face of London exhibition was held in 2005, the new national Wembley stadium and the new Emirates stadium for Arsenal FC were under construction and London had just heard it had won the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the 15 years since then there has been a massive amount of change relating to sports stadia in the capital. Central to this has been the Olympics, and a new home for West Ham along with new world class swimming, cycling and hockey facilities, as well as white water at Broxbourne.

And alongside this legacy, London has seen new stadia for Spurs, Brentford and Wimbledon FCs, a new stadium for Saracens RFC, significant redevelopment of Lords and the Oval, and Wasps RFC has left London and London Irish RFC has recently returned.

Meanwhile Chelsea FC had planning permission for a major new stadium, which has not been implemented, Fulham have expanded, QPR continue to consider their stadium requirements, and Harlequins RFC have a vision to expand the Stoop – and more besides.

So, given this remarkable level of investment and change, the NLA is keen to consider the impact of all this. We have brought together a fascinating range of speakers and panellists to consider the following questions and discuss both the lessons learned and the future, affected currently by the pandemic.

Are new sport stadia acting as a catalyst for regeneration of local areas? What lessons have been learned from those that have successfully opened? What is the upside of moving to a new location as opposed to redeveloping the existing stadium? How has the gradual redevelopment of places like Lords worked? What does the future look like for sports clubs?

This webinar, part of The Changing Face of London, will present lessons learned from the last 15 years of sports-led development in the capital.