In 2014, KKP, working for Khazanah Nasional Berhad (Malaysia’s strategic investment funding body) delivered a detailed feasibility study, specification and business plan for a £40m sports village (the SVIM) in Medini, Malaysia’s second city. The SVIM, which is now under construction, now incorporates a range of indoor and outdoor sports facilities designed to cater for a range of uses from international events and games based competition through to community sport and physical activity.
KKP’s feasibility encompassed assessment of domestic and World markets and we substantively amended, developed and refined the core specification, led design input and set out management structures (taking account of the skills required to market the facility internationally). Business plans, financial modelling, variation analysis and 25-40 year lifecycle costs were factored into a comprehensive project plan.
As part of this, KKP hosted delegations from Malaysia to visit the FA’s England National Football Centre at St George’s Park, SportCity in Manchester, Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games venues and Cardiff’s major facilities as well as meeting the London Playing Pitch Foundation.
The overall complex is to be built around an extensive indoor sports arena (an 18 court hall) complex with integrated spectator facilities which will function both as a major event venue and service anticipated demand from the growing adjacent city. It also encompasses future-proofed (250 station) fitness, squash facilities, multiple studio spaces, retail and café areas plus sports science/medicine provision.
Outdoors it will have a superb ‘Wembley standard’ elite football pitch, modelled on St George’s Park. This sits alongside a cricket oval with capacity to install temporary searing for up to 20,000 spectators enabling it, in future, to attract and host Indian Premier League matches; this has its own changing and social areas. It also includes three full-sized floodlit artificial grass pitches, community grass pitches, futsal/five a side courts, cricket nets and commensurate parking and landscaping.
As noted by David Ross of Keppie, KKP’s partner design practice for the assignment, “the project is reflective of the ambitions of one of the world’s fastest growing economies and will play an important role in developing a sense of place, attracting and developing elite sports and balancing this with the promotion of community engagement and participation.”
Peter Millward principal consultant at KKP who led on business plan development noted that ‘this was a project that changed radically and fundamentally as a consequence of the feasibility process: ‘Khazanah is developing a venue that has a great chance of achieving both its international games and events, Johor and Medini profile and commercial viability objectives’.
Contractors started work on SVIM in 2015 and the project is intended for completion by 2016.
Contact: john.eady@kkp.co.uk
