Construction works starts on huge new £30m ice rink and community centre

Councillors and and stakeholders gathered at the site east London for the ground-breaking for the new community hub, which is due to open in October 2022.

The event saw the unveiling of hoardings with a new community artwork designed by school children and the start of the demolition of the current venue, which couldn’t meet growing demand and had reached the end of its operational life after 37 years.

The new £30million centre is being built and funded by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, responsible for the 26 mile long, 10,000 acre Lee Valley Regional Park which attracted more than 10millions visits last year.

The development will create 45 new jobs in the new centre and offer a range of new opportunities in the sports and leisure sector, as well as boosting the local economy by £1.5 million a year.

It is being constructed on the site of the old venue in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton and will be one of only three Olympic-sized twin rinks in the UK and the only venue of its kind in the southeast. Both rinks will be larger than the one in the original venue doubling capacity to attract over 500,000 people a year.

Leader elect of Waltham Forest council Grace Williams, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Chairman Cllr Paul Osborn, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority chief executive Shaun Dawson, and artist Alice Druitt

The new Lee Valley Ice Centre will include a café, gym, exercise studios and community spaces which will be open to everyone. It will be accompanied by landscape and ecology improvements including new wetland habitats. The venue will provide a place for people to socialise and relax and be a meeting point for visitors to the award winning nearby green space.

Shaun Dawson, chief executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, said: “Starting work on this stunning, transformational investment is a declaration of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority’s long-term commitment to communities in east London and across the region.

“Helping people get fit, stay healthy, enjoy nature and have fun is what we do across the 26-mile-long Lee Valley Regional Park – after the past year, this is more important than ever.

“We know how much the old venue was valued by people near and far, and the new one will have an expanded range of programmes for schools, community organisations, and under-represented groups – all of which will aid community cohesion plus physical and mental wellbeing.

“We’re delighted to fund this £30m development and are grateful to the London Borough of Waltham Forest for their contribution of £1m for a substantial set of community and social initiatives in the new centre.”

East London artist Alice Druitt worked with two schools, Sybourn Primary and St Joseph’s Catholic Junior, to design the hoarding for the site. She encouraged year five pupils to draw what they hoped the new centre might be, bought their drawings to life to celebrate the future of the centre, and helped unveil the engaging artwork.