Basildon Sporting Village stands at the northern end of Gloucester Park beside Cranes Farm Road. It opened to the public on 30 April 2011 and was created as a major modern sports centre for Basildon and the wider region. The development cost approximately £38 million and brought a large number of indoor and outdoor sporting facilities together on one site.
Plans for what was originally described as a centre of sporting excellence were announced in 2004, around the period of London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Basildon Council wanted to replace and consolidate several older sporting facilities with a modern regional sports hub.
The wider strategy involved replacing the old Gloucester Park Swimming Pool, Markhams Chase Leisure Centre and the separate South Essex Gymnastics facility. Rather than continuing to operate several ageing or separate sites, the Sporting Village was intended to provide swimming, gymnastics, athletics, fitness and indoor sports together in one purpose-built complex.
Work eventually began in October 2009. The scheme was designed and built by Morgan Sindall, with Sport and Leisure Management operating the centre under the Everyone Active brand.
The Sporting Village opened over the weekend of 30 April and 1 May 2011. Pupils from Northlands Junior School in Pitsea were the first group to enter the new swimming pool after winning a competition for the privilege.
The centre was subsequently officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester. Its opening gave Basildon a sporting facility considerably larger and more varied than the old Gloucester Park pool it replaced.
At the heart of the Sporting Village is its competition-standard 50 metre, eight-lane swimming pool. When the centre opened it was described as the only 50 metre international-size pool in Essex.
The pool is designed to be flexible. It can be divided into two 25 metre pools, allowing different activities to take place at the same time. There is also a separate teaching pool used for lessons and other aquatic activities.
The swimming facilities are used for public swimming, lane swimming, lessons, clubs, training and competitions. Basildon and Phoenix Swimming Club, whose predecessors had been closely associated with the old Gloucester Park pool, now use the Sporting Village.
The Sporting Village contains an eight-court sports hall. It can be configured for badminton, basketball, netball, table tennis and other indoor sports. The size of the hall allows several courts or activities to operate simultaneously and also makes it suitable for larger sporting events.
A large health and fitness suite formed part of the original development, which opened with around 100 exercise stations. The centre also provides studios and group exercise facilities, including dedicated cycling activities and personal training.
The Sporting Village is therefore intended for everyday community fitness as well as competitive sport. Visitors can use the gym, attend classes or take part in exercise-referral and organised fitness programmes.
A major purpose-built gymnastics centre was included in the Sporting Village. South Essex Gymnastics Club relocated to the new complex from its former Cranes Farm Road facility as part of the council's consolidation of sporting sites.
The gymnastics centre has helped give Basildon a national sporting profile. It provides specialist training space rather than requiring gymnastics equipment to be repeatedly installed and removed from a general sports hall.
The original Sporting Village development also included a substantial indoor climbing wall, reported at opening as approximately 24 metres by 10 metres. This added another activity that had not been available at the old Gloucester Park swimming complex.
Outside the main building is an athletics stadium with a 400 metre track and a grandstand with seating for around 750 spectators. It provides facilities for running and field athletics and is used by local athletics organisations as well as for training and competition.
Construction of the Sporting Village required major changes at the northern end of Gloucester Park. The previous athletics building and grandstand were removed during 2010, and the old Murryfield pavilion was also demolished as the area was reorganised.
The wider Sporting Village development was designed to make use of Gloucester Park as well as the main building. At opening, outdoor provision included football pitches, netball courts, cricket pitches and hockey facilities in addition to the athletics stadium.
This was important to the idea of a 'sporting village': the project was not simply a replacement swimming pool but a large sports campus combining indoor facilities, outdoor pitches and existing parkland.
The development of the Sporting Village coincided with preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its 50 metre pool and specialist sporting facilities were designed to a standard capable of supporting high-level training as well as community use.
Basildon's Olympic connection became particularly visible on 6 July 2012, when the Olympic Torch visited the town. Eleven torchbearers carried the flame on a route beginning at the Sporting Village before continuing through Basildon.
Today the Sporting Village remains Basildon's principal multi-sport centre. It supports recreational users, children learning to swim, fitness members, sports clubs and competitive athletes. The combination of swimming, gymnastics, athletics, indoor sport and outdoor pitches means people of very different ages and abilities can use the same complex.
The development also changed the physical layout of Gloucester Park and replaced several older sporting facilities elsewhere in Basildon. One of the biggest changes was the closure of the original Gloucester Park Swimming Pool, whose history continues on Page 2.