World class sports facility ensures a legacy to 2012 in Guildford

Xn Leisure is proud to announce a prestigious roll-out of their leading Leisure Management Solution to the University of Surrey at their world class facility in Guildford.  Early in 2010, one of the best sports facilities in the UK opens at Manor Park.  The Surrey Sports Park, which is owned by the University of Surrey, will offer unrivalled facilities and is set to become one of the leading training venues ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.  It is envisaged that the centre will attract some of the great athletes and sports teams both from the UK and around the world to base themselves there, with discussions already underway with a number of leading teams and sporting talents.

This facility is not just for those at the highest level of sport; it is designed as a venue for all.  The Surrey Sports Park, which will house Surrey’s first 50 metre, 8 lane swimming pool, will provide the leisure user with some of the most modern health and fitness facilities in the country.  The Surrey Sports Park has also been developed with the expert guidance of Paralympic athletes to ensure that it is a fully accessible facility for the disabled user.

Overseeing the project is Jason Harborow, Managing Director, with over 20 years experience in managing major sport and cultural projects.  Jason managed the Liverpool Culture Company, was responsible for the management of the Rugby League World Cup and handled all commercial income generation for the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.  Taking charge of one of the UK’s most exciting sports facility projects is something which he has relished and states;

“Surrey Sports Park will be a leading sports facilities in the world not just within the UK.  With the Olympics just around the corner it is imperative that the UK invests heavily in sports facilities like this to ensure that there is a lasting legacy for sport in this country.  This is the best opportunity the UK has had in many years to improve its sports facilities and therefore the health and well-being of the nation. I am delighted to be a part of a project which aims to do exactly that.”

Jason has already agreed a deal to bring Starbucks to the sports park, which will make it the first Starbucks in a multi-sport facility in Europe.  The Surrey Sports Park will also feature a 120 station health and fitness centre, a climbing centre, 3 multi-purpose sports halls, glass-backed squash courts with 2 show courts, 8 floodlit tennis courts, 2 Cricket squares, 3 floodlit artificial grass pitches, 10 football and rugby pitches, 2 exercise studios, health suite, spinning studio, a 350 seat café and social area and the Olympic sized pool with movable pool.

To keep an eye on the development which is changing the sporting landscape in Surrey go to: www.surreysportspark.co.uk

Surrey Sports Park aims to inspire Olympic and Paralympics glory

The Surrey Sports Park opens its doors early in 2010 and has already been registered as a potential Olympic training venue. It is also likely to be a key Paralympics training site for London 2012.
A number of countries have identified Surrey Sports Park as a potential preparation camp.
 
One of the key sporting advisors for the multi-million pound project is Vicki Hansford, Sports Development Officer at the University and Beijing Paralympics medallist.  Vicki has been keen to emphasise the importance of disability access at the Surrey Sports Park.

“What we want to do is make the facility as accessible as possible for all groups, with a particular emphasis on elite performance for disability sports so, working closely with the architect and the design team and specific advisory groups, we’ve tried as best we can to build a facility and equip it in a way that makes it truly accessible. Basically provision for disabled athletes underpins the whole thing which is fantastic.”

The design of the park has included input from Paralympics athletes like Vicki, who claims this provision is “not experienced elsewhere, in fact it is one of the only sports centre in the UK with that sort of provision in mind”.

The issue of legacy is obviously integral to the Surrey Sports Park so those involved are keen to emphasise that Surrey will be left with facilities that will inspire people to get involved in sport at all levels for generations to come. 

One of the key figures in the University of Surrey’s decision to build this state of the art facility is Barry Hitchcock.  Barry, the Director of Sport at the university, is strongly committed to enabling access to sport for all members of the community.  This fundamental belief in the principal of sport for all has been non-negotiable throughout his career and underpins the development of the new Surrey Sports Park as a facility that will potentially be used as a training ground for the Paralympics in 2012.

Whilst Barry has announced his intention to retire later this year after 29 years with the institution, he will retain his links with the university in a new role developing student opportunities for sport.

"I have had a wonderful time at the university and am very proud of what we have achieved over the years, particularly with such limited resources. It is a source of immense satisfaction to me that the new Surrey Sports Park is finally nearing completion, and it is a facility that will take sport in Surrey to a new level ".

Barry's devotion to sport is obvious. Enjoying a national profile in sport Barry has received two national awards from the British Universities and Colleges Sport association for services to higher education. He also led and inspired a department of over 130 staff and volunteers, providing and developing opportunities, whilst raising the profile of sport at the University of Surrey and in the region.

Top Sporting Legends Back the Surrey Sports Park

A year into its development, the Surrey Sports Park has received the backing of two of the country’s most recognised sporting heroes; Jonny Wilkinson and Alec Stewart.

In March of this year England’s most capped cricketer, Alec Stewart, paid a visit to the site of the new sporting development to see for himself how the building work was coming along. A former England captain, Stewart was also a bastion of the Surrey cricket team for 20 years.

“I think the Surrey Sports Park is absolutely outstanding. A lot of money has been spent on it, but it's money well invested. I’m all for sport, for elite sport and I’m all for giving everyone the opportunity to improve themselves. But this has got to be the norm.”

He continued: “This [the SSP] is very, very special; there aren’t many projects like this going on around the country, and if we’re serious about being the best in the world, we need to see more facilities like these.”

More recently, Jonny Wilkinson OBE, visited the University to receive an honorary degree for his services to the sports industry and was really excited by the Surrey Sports Park development.

“The Surrey Sports Park is a fantastic idea and it will be great for the region.” commented Wilkinson. “I grew up playing sport and massively enjoyed my sport down here - it’s a very positive thing to be part of.

“The Sports Park offers a great opportunity for people in this area, but also at an elite level, so the Paralympians and Olympians. I think it looks amazing. It will be a huge benefit to everyone, and particularly everyone in this region.”

In recent weeks Managing Director Jason Harborow has had the opportunity to meet some of the country’s leading athletes and sports bodies and introduce them to the fantastic facilities. Jason Harborow said ‘the interest from those major sports bodies is phenomenal and is testament to the facilities that will be on offer.

The Surrey Sports Park will shortly be unveiling a number of top sporting ambassadors who it will be working alongside to promote the sporting facilities on offer.

Making Sport Accessible to All

Over the next three years the emphasis on sport, and being active, will continue to grow as we get closer and closer to the London 2012 Olympics. Excellent sporting facilities should be available to everyone, and the new Surrey Sports Park will give Surrey residents access to a truly world class sports venue.

The existing sports facilities at the University attract over 500,000 visits per year –when the new Surrey Sports Park opens early next year, that figure is expected to grow to over a million with local people expected to make up much of that number.

The Surrey Sports Park will give local residents of all ages full access to a wide variety of activities; it’s hoped that this will encourage more people to trial different sports and find one which suits them. Once opened, it’s expected that the Surrey Sports Park will encourage a more diverse range of community groups and clubs to base their training and competitions at the University.

Away from sport, the Starbucks café and a bar will also be a major draw for the venue. The Surrey Sports Park is on track to become a real hub for sport – keep an eye on it.

Darrell Boxall, Xn Leisure Managing Director concludes “ to have been chosen to work with such a large scale, prestigious and fabulous project is a real credit to the Xn team in the continued development of our solutions and demonstrates our solutions really do compete and operate at the highest level”.