UKVMAvelodrome Archives

VENUE NEWS: Herne Hill Velodrome combines modern with historic

The historic Herne Hill Velodrome is back in the saddle after renovation and a grand opening of the new Exodus Travels Pavilion. The new pavilion marks a successful and emotional end to the third stage of the Save the Velodrome campaign following previous initiatives to rebuild the main track, develop a kids track and implement floodlights – all having the combined impact of doubling track usage numbers since 2012.

The completion of the pavilion is the final step to securing the future of the former 1948 London Olympic venue for generations of champions to come, over 125-years since the track first opened.

The completed pavilion, thanks to the crucial funding of Sport England and London Marathon Charitable Trust, alongside Southwark Council and the London Mayor, restores the venue to its former glory.

Charles Johnston, Director of Property at Sport England, said:

We are delighted to provide £750,000 of National Lottery funding to help deliver this fantastic pavilion. Already famous for its 450 metre cycle track, the new pavilion will help positon the velodrome as a first-class venue ideal for everyone in the local community and beyond, and cater for both keen cyclists as well as those who are new to the sport. We look forward to the next exciting chapter in the story of this 1948 Olympic cycling venue and congratulate all involved.

Having been fortunate enough to have had a hand in delivering the 2012 Velodrome we wanted to help ensure the continued success of London’s already famous historic track at Herne Hill,” explained architect Mike Taylor, Hopkins Architects. “The combination of these two very different venues provides a great synergy for track cycling in London.

Their vision was to retain Herne Hill’s unique green character but at the same time improve circulation, utilise otherwise dead space, and provide state of the art facilities.

The new pavilion, which is similar in scale to its predecessor, boasts a load bearing timber structure but retains a sense of historical continuity by utilising six of the original 1890’s decorated cast iron columns to support the grandstand roof.

The new accommodation comprises changing rooms, first aid room, toilets and a coaches’ office at ground-floor level, and a generously sized club room overlooking the entire site at first floor. This upper level, which is accessed from the top of the grandstand and provides panoramic views around the track, has a kitchen, servery and meeting room which can also be hired out for community use. Behind the pavilion a tensile fabric canopy between the bike storage units creates a versatile year round covered space for outdoor activities.

In tandem with the physical renovation, the long term future of this illustrious sporting venue is now secured for a further 99 years thanks to the support of the land owners The Dulwich Estate, and their working relationship with British Cycling.

Side plan view of the new pavilion at Herne Hill Velodrome.

Hillary Peachey, Chairman of the Herne Hill Velodrome Trust, expressed her gratitude to all those that helped make this happen.

It has been a long journey, but I am immensely proud of how the community came together, matched by the generosity of our funders, the project team, the local residents.

A recent crowdfunder organized by the Friends of the HHV raised £89,000 in just two weeks to fit out the new pavilion.

The Herne Hill Velodrome Trust was also able to secure the long-term stability of the velodrome working alongside Female Sports Group, with Exodus Travels recently announced as the official sponsor of the new pavilion. The agreement will drive new and additional participation to the site, and the over 50’s group was identified as a growing target audience in cycling. As well as supporting the increase in users to the site, Exodus Travels will be sponsoring the current Vets session, also supporting Sport England’s strategic outcomes as part of their Towards an Active Nation strategy.

The official stakeholders of the velodrome are the Herne Hill Velodrome Trust, British Cycling, The Dulwich Estate, and Friends of Herne Hill Velodrome. The funders include Sport England, The London Marathon Charitable Trust, Southwark Council and the Mayor of London.

VENUE PROFILE: Lee Valley VeloPark, with General Manager Jeremy Northrop

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has changed since London 2012, a site cut off from the world around it, to a green space with people walking, cycling and boating through it, with the noise of traffic and construction. In short, it’s become part of London. At the A12 end of the Park, the Copper Box, Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre form a sporting triangle that’s augmented by BT Sports and Loughborough University’s new campus for sport management courses.

Vibrant Partnerships manages Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre which are owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Jeremy Northrop is the General Manager of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre and Richard Love is Centre Manager of Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. Their combined experience encompasses working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, nightclub management, opening leisure centres, arts venues and youthful careers as top-class tennis players.

Jeremy Northrop, General Manager.

In this article, UKVMA interviews Jeremy Northrop about both venues . In a parallel article UKVMA interviews Richard Love about Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre.

Lee Valley VeloPark – vital cog in cycling sport

Lee Valley VeloPark General Manager Jeremy Northrop believes one of the main challenges facing the venue is to engage with a wide cycling audience and the general public not used to using a purpose built venue offering multi discipline types of cycling for all:

The prestige of the velodrome as an Olympic and Paralympic venue and the wonderful space gives us a unique venue that is proving popular to hire for corporate opportunities but this also gives us our biggest challenge as it can also act as a barrier for ordinary people and visitors who do not know what goes on inside and around this fantastic venue.

Not everyone realises Lee Valley VeloPark can be enjoyed by anyone, so we work to get clubs, schools, community groups and charities to use the venue, as well as international competition athletes.

The venue’s big screens and signage are reminders that this isn’t an ordinary building. The Olympic effect has resulted in 1.5 million since April 2014, on average 700,000 per year.

No cycling venue in the world gets close. Where else can you say ‘I’ve cycled on the same track on which Sir Chris Hoy, Laura Trott, Mark Colbourne won gold’? Unlike visiting Wembley, where visitors face signs to ‘keep off the grass’, we encourage people to ride on the same track as the world’s best cyclists.

Although the velodrome is booked solid at the moment, we predict a falling away of some of the one off bookings as the memory of London 2012 recedes. The challenge remains to integrate with the local and regional community to ensure long-term success. A growing residential and office area nearby will provide future customers. Northrop explains:

We are delivering a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Games and we will find a compromise between corporate and community use, and those who have never been on a cycle track before in their life. The indoor track programming is currently circa 25% private booking and corporates, 25% schools, clubs and groups and 50% general public. But in 3-5 years’ time the programming is unlikely to look the same.

Vibrant Partnerships has therefore revised the building’s priorities, turning the velodrome into a community and corporate venue capable of holding large events. But is a venue designed for an Olympic Games capable of this change? Northrop:

The building has presented some challenges but nothing damaging to our business. I love the way that the building looks. Given the chance, I would change some of the customer journeys and behind the scenes facilities, but I wouldn’t trade the ‘wow’ factor that people experience when they come in.

A burst of activity in the last decade has built three new indoor velodromes – in London, Glasgow and Derby – to join the National Cycling Centre in Manchester and the Wales National Velodrome in Newport. Jeremy meets with managers from the UK’s other velodromes twice a year and finds the information sharing process very helpful, especially around programming trends.

Lee Valley VeloPark, and in particular, the velodrome, makes itself available to British Cycling for major events but Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Vibrant Partnerships are fully responsible for the upkeep and management of the venue and how it operates and receives no lottery or British Cycling funding for the day to day operations.

Big event days

Lee Valley VeloPark hosted a sell-out world hour track attempt by Bradley Wiggins and earlier this year hosted the best-attended UCI Track Cycling World Championships ever. This was quickly followed by a week of Comic Relief events, with stars practising with the public during training prior to the show in a major BBC-funded broadcast event. So how does the venue team take on these exceptional events?

It’s exciting to work on these events. Job roles are quite diverse and we’ve a great team at Vibrant Partnerships who get stuck in. A number of staff are NVQ level 4 qualified safety officers which help in managing such large events and spectator numbers. We have people here who worked during Games time so bring that experience. We also have volunteers, some of whom were Gamesmakers. We schedule carefully to be fair to volunteers who sometimes want to be at every event.

Six Day London event.

Jeremy Northrop is also in no doubt about the personal satisfaction of managing such a venue:

Where else are you going to get a World Championships on your CV? Big events are exciting and people love working here.

Vibrant Partnerships staff multi-task between day to day and big events, which require out of hours shifts. The venue currently hosts approximately one spectator event per month. Even when an overlay is in the velodrome, BMX, Road and Mountain Bike activities can continue most of the time. There’s no hanging around getting back to normal use either; the recent World Championships ended on a Sunday, and after a rapid ‘get-out’, the velodrome opened for normal business on the following Tuesday. At another event saw damage to the track and colleagues worked through the night so that the venue could open to the public the following morning. This is different to many of the other high profile venues and theatres where there will be programme quiet time for change-overs and setting up events.

On the different working patterns, Jeremy Northrop observes:

We have to balance our programme carefully and it is a real challenge. We don’t want to be too quiet for too long but neither do we want to be too busy for too long. The amount of work involved in organising, preparing, running and bumping out an event takes longer than people think or expect and doing very long hours during the bump in, event days and bump out is standard.

Day to day staff at Lee Valley VeloPark consist of an assistant manager, duty managers, centre assistant, customer service assistants, management support, coaches, catering, mechanics, engineers and sports-related staff. Vibrant Partnerships has multi-skilled operatives dealing with electrical and mechanical equipment. Three grounds maintenance staff look after landscaping in this part of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. For a large event like the World Championships, the building is staffed 24/7 for a fortnight, with all staff on a rota.

Collaboration between Vibrant Partnerships venues brings value in many ways. The proximity of Lee Valley VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre means that they can combine in hosting large-scale events. Jeremy Northrop and Richard Love have a friendly rivalry around record capacities. The velodrome holds the record at 55,000 for its recent five day World Championships, while June’s Hockey Champions Trophy at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will have around 40,000 spectators.

Lee Valley VeloPark development

After the London 2012 Olympic Games, the velodrome was remodelled to support community use, and re-opened fully in April 2014. Development work included the building of a one mile road circuit, a remodelled 390 metre BMX track and skills area and miles of mountain bike trails.

The velodrome is only one part of the VeloPark.

The velodrome houses treatment rooms, newly opened ‘VeloStudio’ consisting of top of the range indoor fitness and training bikes. Balance bikes and pump track activities are provided within the track centre, offering cycling for children aged two years and above. Cycle Surgery provides the retail partnership for the venue and the in-house catering service provides opportunities to develop the offer and increase revenue. Jeremy Northrop is looking to develop indoor BMX’ing, via a purpose built pump track to make it weather-independent. An extra section has been recently added to the road circuit to make a smaller loop that is flatter and more accessible for disabled groups and novice hand-cyclists. Areas outside the velodrome have been used for temporary marquees during large scale events and are contenders for more permanent structures to be built and there are discussions about covering the outside BMX track.

VENUE NEWS: AJ Bell Stadium setting for World Rugby U20s in 2016; Lee Valley using gift vouchers to encourage venue use

AJ Bell Stadium will be the setting for the World Rugby U20 Championship 2016. Hosted by the RFU, the tournament will take place throughout June 2016. Each year it is contested by 12 national teams at under-20 level, showcasing future stars of rugby union. It was first introduced in 2008, when it was known as the Junior World Championship and since then Wales, Japan, Argentina, Italy, South Africa, France and New Zealand have all played host. England are the current title holders, having won the trophy in back-to-back tournaments in 2013 and 2014, so it is a great honour for AJ Bell Stadium to be able to host the 2016 competition.

World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset said:

The U20 Championship in England next year will be another excellent opportunity for the future stars of world rugby to showcase their skills on the world stage, following what’s shaping up to be a record-breaking Rugby World Cup. Manchester will provide an excellent base for the world’s top U20 teams, and it’s a great opportunity to bring a top class rugby event to the city and grow the game even further in the region.

Manchester City’s 7,000 seat Academy Stadium will also be hosting.

Neil Fairlamb, Manchester City Council Head of Sport, said:

The announcement that the World Rugby U20 Championship will take place in Manchester is fantastic news and once again demonstrates the city’s commitment to the sport. It will also allow us to build on the interest created by hosting a 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Councillor Ann-Marie Humphreys, Assistant Mayor for Culture and Sport at Salford City Council, added:

This tournament will give the chance to showcase the world-class sporting event facilities we have on offer in Salford. It promises to be a great championship and the people of Salford will extend a very warm welcome to the players and all those who attend.

Festive gift ideas at Lee Valley

Lee Valley is offering gift vouchers for sports enthusiasts who want to experience the London 2012 Legacy venues.

Lee Valley White Water Centre

A White Water Raft Adventure Voucher costs £65. Alternatively, a White Water Activity Voucher for Two for £100 can be redeemed against Hydrospeeding or a Hot Dog session for two. There are also £6 or £10 paddling vouchers which are great for experienced paddlers as well as beginners.

Lee Valley VeloPark

One hour taster sessions are perfect for all riders that want to experience this world class venue. BMX, road or mountain bike gift vouchers cost £15 and for £35 gets a go on the track inside the velodrome.The Lee Valley VeloPark Experience voucher for £60 buys two cycling disciplines in one day.

VENUES: Derby Arena hosting Revolution; Scarborough cricket; Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth; Airco squabble

Derby Arena will play host to the UK’s leading international track cycling competition this summer with the opening round of the 2015-16 Revolution Series confirmed to take place between 14th-16th August. It will be the first major cycling event to be hosted in the iconic facility and will be an important opportunity for Team GB riders to gain UCI qualification points ahead of Rio 2016.

Leader of Derby City Council, Councillor Ranjit Banwait, said:

I’m extremely pleased Derby’s new world class venue will host the premier round of the 2015-16 Revolution Series, bringing competitive elite track cycling to the Midlands for the very first time.

Spectators at the UK’s first Olympic Legacy project will be able to see Britain’s leading cyclists battle it out as they try and secure points in the first step to qualifying on the road to Rio. It is great news that the Arena is already starting to attract high profile events, such as this to Derby.

Face Partnership CEO and Revolution Series promoter, James Pope said:

We’re excited to start the 2015-16 Revolution Series in Derby and host the first major cycling event in this fantastic new facility. The event will have an extended programme across three days that has been developed in conjunction with British Cycling as they begin the qualification process towards Rio 2016.

Following the opening round in Derby the Revolution Series will continue at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on 24th October, Lee Valley VeloPark in London on 14th November leading to the final three rounds at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester on 28th November, 2nd and 23th January 2016.

Scarborough Cricket Club chairman Bill Mustoe hopes that a shift in the County Championship diary will result in an attendance boost for Yorkshire v Worcestershire next week.

Unbeaten Yorkshire head into the clash starting on Sunday in confident mood as they are top of the Division One table with games in hand on their nearest rivals Middlesex and Durham.

With the game starting on a Sunday and with the clash coinciding with the schools breaking up for their summer holidays, Mustoe is hoping for a bumper crowd down at North Marine Road.

Premier League newcomers Bournemouth will play at the Vitality Stadium next season after signing a naming rights deal with the health and life insurance company.

Hull city council’s senior legal officer says the authority is still considering “all options” over the Airco Arena, where the operator has changed its use by installing a synthetic turf field.

ARENAS: Blackpool seeks to invest in ‘Ocean Arena’; Derby Arena financials

Blackpool council is seeking development partners to build an arena on the town’s prime Central Station site

Councillor Tony Williams, leader of the Conservatives on Blackpool Council, said:

I have recently had meetings with members of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association together with two private investors and an independent architect to formulate an initiative to seek interested parties to invest in an ‘Ocean Arena’ in Blackpool.

Blackpool is the perfect location for a multi-purpose event stadium and it’s something the town desperately needs.

Not only would the arena welcome international top names in music and entertainment etc it would also accommodate events, competitions, indoor sport, conferences and exhibitions all year round.

The town hall’s assistant chief executive Alan Cavill today said it was “incorrect” to say there had been no movement on the site since a super casino bid collapsed in 2008

Derby Arena to be loss-making in first three years

Derby Arena at Pride Park is forecast to make a £2.1 million loss in its first three years in operation. A written reply to a councillor’s question about current forecast for revenue and expenditure for the next three financial years, starting with the year from April stated:

The projected spending on the venue in its first three years would be a total of £6,570,000 and the income, £4,435,000 – a gap of £2,135,000.

TEMPORARY: pop-up velodrome for Worthing

Over the weekend of 1st and 2nd August 2015 the south coast resort of Worthing will be host to a round of the 2015 UK StreetVelodrome Series. For two days the town will be turned into a heart pounding hub of cycling action.

The Series is touring across the UK throughout 2015 and aims to bring the excitement and drama of close action track cycling to the people using an innovative pop-up velodrome track complete with banked corners.

All the events in the UK Series are filmed for the StreetVelodrome television series shown on UK TV and in over 180 countries worldwide.

The StreetVelodrome Series is looking for host venues and offers its Host Partnership commercial rights associated with their event. This can enable Hosts to identify revenue opportunities with local businesses or other commercial partners.

The Series showcases the positive impact sport can have on individuals and local communities by providing opportunities in town and city centres for local amateur cyclists to participate for free and on equal terms alongside professional riders. Spectators will be able to enjoy the action for free too whilst watching top riders compete at close quarters in high energy, head to head pursuit races.

During the event losing riders are eliminated from the competition reducing the field to just the very best, who then fight for the gold, silver and bronze medals on offer. The racing is fast and furious with crashes and photo finishes often deciding the final outcome. Both men’s and women’s categories have equal status on the day so spectators will be in for an entertaining afternoon which ever rider or team they choose to support.

This regional round of the UK Series, the first to be held on the south coast, will see locally qualifying amateurs compete alongside Olympic and elite level cyclists riding for Pro Teams who will be battling for top honours in the Series. And the very best local amateurs who manage to do well on the day will get selected to race in the series finale held in London.

Executive Member for Regeneration at Worthing Borough Council Bryan Turner, took the decision over Christmas to bring the StreetVelodrome event to the town. He said:

I am delighted that Worthing will have another exciting, innovative and free event for everyone to get behind this summer, with the added benefit of global television coverage for the town.

StreetVelodrome Series Director Carl Thompson commented:

We are looking to bring the thrill of live track cycling to more and more people in 2015, having Worthing as an addition to our race calendar gives us an excellent opportunity to do just that. Worthing offers a growing reputation for being a cycle friendly destination with the South Downs on its doorstep and a historic legacy of a strong cycling club scene. Worthing makes an ideal venue for our Series.

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority is letting rooms in the London Olympic Velodrome

The rooms to be let are part of a suite of rooms and are suited for a variety purposes such as sports injury or preventative treatment, wellbeing and other therapies. Both rooms directly accessed off a communal waiting area are self-contained with treatment bench, toilets and wash hand basin.

Interested parties should contact Stephen Roberts, Property Manager, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority on 01992 709814. sroberts@leevalleypark.org.uk

The areas of each of the rooms are:

Room 1: 19 sq.m (204sq.ft)
Room 2: 29 sq.m (313sq.ft)

The Olympic Velodrome and the surrounding Lee Valley VeloPark is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. The Authority opened the building to the public in April 2014.

The venue now offers four cycling disciplines; track, BMX, road and mountain biking.

Visitors to the centre are currently in the region of 50,000 per month, and this is anticipated to grow as more events and cycling opportunities are programmed for the future.