Knight Kavanagh & Page (KKP) has been appointed by BDP Architects to help identify the most appropriate option and specification for a new sport and leisure venue in Ebbw Vale. This will replace the existing, ageing Ebbw Vale Sports Centre that serves the County Borough and surrounding region.

Blaenau Gwent has a population of just under 70,000 people spread across three distinctive valleys in which its five main towns Abertillery, Blaina, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar are located. Sport is both high on the area's regeneration agenda and in the context of supporting local delivery of the Welsh Assembly's Climbing Higher Strategy targets. The new sports and leisure venue, in addition to its function as a key leisure resource, epitomises the regeneration of the area with its planned links to a new learning campus and theatre. There is also a desire to incorporate amenities/features that will be of regional and possibly national interest.

The study will:

• Evaluate the limitations and physical state of the current Ebbw Vale Sports Centre.
• Determine requirements in Ebbw Vale and Blaenau Gwent for sports centre provision.
• Take account of curriculum requirements at the Learning Campus site of which it is a key component.
• Generate an outline schedule of accommodation informed by market and demand assessment, stakeholder, user and public consultation.
• Inform master-planning for the Learning Campus, help to shape the strategic brief and affect design at RIBA Stage C (outline).
• Include development of an outline business plan to support future applications to funding bodies for development the new sport and leisure centre.

KKP's portfolio of projects in Wales has developed significantly over recent years:

• At national level, we have evaluated capital and revenue grant programmes including Elite Cymru and Sportlot.
• We continue to manage a range of projects for Bridgend CBC, including strategies for sport, market research with young people and its current Greenspaces strategy.
• We have recently delivered an unbiased view of the true cost of developing and managing a community pool in Torfaen.
• A scoping strategy (linked to the Making the Connections Agenda) to shape development of sport in South East Wales (involving the 11 local authorities and Welsh NGBs.

In addition, we have experience, throughout the UK, of an extensive range of partnership based feasibilities and capital projects to assess the potential for integrated indoor and outdoor sports facilities onto a range of campus-based institutions.

Jonathan Woods, Principal Consultant, will lead on this project. He said:

"In a project like this it is thoroughness and objectivity that matters. We will conduct a comprehensive evaluation to find the right answer. Not every proposal is feasible, but we work hard to find workable solutions to ensure that investment is optimised."

For further details, please contact Jonathan Woods, Principal Consultant, Email: jonathan.woods@kkp.co.uk

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