Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena was converted from an Exhibition venue (circa 1925) and opened to the public in November 1987. The arena provides a centre for sporting excellence for organised clubs and the general public. Unique to the Kelvin Hall is the Indoor Athletics Track, Climbing Wall and Sports Injury Clinic.

In 2001, KKP assessed the potential options for an International Sports Arena (ISA) on behalf of Glasgow City Council. This extensive study incorporated assessment of the option to upgrade and/or redevelop the existing Kelvin Hall facility and evaluation of a range of alternative venues for development of a new ‘National Sports Campus' for Scotland in the City.

KKP's work provided a range of costed options along with potential development sites. These enabled the Council to respond both to Glasgow's needs, and to the range of outcomes and recommendations emanating from the National Study. The original proposal has now, on the back of Glasgow's successful bid the host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, been extended and with the addition of the proposed velodrome may ultimately come in at closer to £98 million. Facilities include:

• 200m athletics track with 5,000 spectators
• 250m velodrome track with 2,000 spectators expandable to 4,000
• 1km outdoor track
• 3 community 5 a-side football pitches
• 3 indoor basketball courts
• A dance hall
• A gymnasium
• Offices for a range of Scottish governing bodies of sport (SGBs) and sportscotland

The arena and velodrome are linked by a 34m x 80m connecting building, which includes circulation space, as well as the SGB offices. These will mix cellular and open plan and also provide conferencing facilities, function spaces and control rooms for the arenas. The project is unique in that it provides two distinctly separate arenas under one roof. This allows great flexibility and the ability to host a large variety of indoor sports. These include (in both training and competition modes) athletics, artistic cycling, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, judo, karate, tae kwon do, netball, squash, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.

To keep up with the progress being made on the ISA visit Glasgow City Council's website at www.glasgow.gov.uk

For an independent view of the case study please contact Ian Hooper, Director of Special Projects, Culture and Sport Glasgow, e-mail ian.hooper@csglasgow.org