Edinburgh's Meadowbank Stadium to close in December

by XPRESS, 14 September 2017

The Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh will close on 3 December to allow a major redevelopment of the site to get under way.

The venue, which was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, will be replaced with a new £41.1m sports centre which is due to open in Easter 2020.

The new centre will be partly funded by residential and commercial development on parts of the existing site.

It follows the closure of Meadowbank Velodrome earlier this month.

There will be a final fireworks concert on the site on 5 November.

Ian Campbell, City of Edinburgh Council's vice convener of culture and communities, said: "This is the end of an era for Meadowbank and the start of a major redevelopment to support physical activity, health and wellbeing in Edinburgh for generations to come.

"The facility will support both the local community and clubs and it is important we get the design right.

"That is why the facility mix has been revisited, and now incorporates improved indoor athletics facilities in line with feedback from individual users and sports clubs within the budget we have available."

He said the old Meadowbank had been "at the heart of sport in Edinburgh for almost half a century".

And he added: "We now need this new-look venue to greatly support physical activity in Edinburgh for at least the next 50 years to come, while catering for the city's ever demanding housing needs."

June Peebles, chief executive of Edinburgh Leisure, said: "Our focus at the moment is identifying the relocation options for the 100-plus clubs that use Meadowbank.

"We are also working to ensure all our members and 'pay and play' customers are able to keep moving and stay active and healthy with Edinburgh Leisure during the closure period."

The first multi-sport games hall will be equivalent in size to an eight-court badminton hall, with permanent seating for 420 and extra bleacher seating for 725.

The second hall is set to be the equivalent of a four-court badminton hall with permanent seating for 430 people.

The new sports centre is to include:

An outdoor athletics track with a 500 seat stand
Two multi-sport games halls
Three fitness studios
A gym
A gymnastics hall
Two squash courts
A combat studio for martial arts
A boxing gym with ring
A 60m six-lane indoor athletics track and jumps space
An outdoor throwing area
Two Fifa-standard 3G pitches - one in the centre of the athletics track
Cafe and meeting rooms