Crystal Palace‘s athletics stadium can host international competition by 2028, according to the project director for its redevelopment, despite a funding gap.
The update on the stadium came as Crystal Palace National Sports Centre held 60th anniversary celebrations on July 13.
Having once been threatened with demolition, the stadium is now a key part of the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) projected £200million redevelopment of the sports centre site which gives organisers hope of hosting the biggest competitions in four years’ time.
GLA Project Director Ben Woods said: “I think it’s realistic. We’ve got the stage, people come with us from the sporting world and help us fill it.
“We’ve already shown our commitment with some investment, but we want partners to come with us now to really reinvent that stadium for the 21st century and beyond.”
Woods estimated 75% of investment for the site was secured but the search for investment for the stadium was ongoing.
Funding has already been secured to redevelop and decarbonise the Grade II*-listed sports centre building including an Olympic-size swimming pool last used in 2020.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan hoped Bromley Council would grant planning permission for the whole site this year but this has been pushed back to 2025, according to Woods.
Opened in 1964 and hosting international events as recently as 2012, the athletics stadium saw 28 world records set there.
Tim Hutchings, Olympian at the 1984 Games in LA, watched middle-distance legend Steve Ovett at Crystal Palace as a teenager before racing against Ovett there himself.
He said: “It was very much embedded in every period of my career like a thread, popping up in training and racing at different levels.”
“The noise was absolutely deafening, and capacity crowds were the norm for many, many years.”
The anniversary celebrations saw the resurfaced 400-metre track opened by Beckenham and Penge MP Liam Conlon.
Conlon said: “When you ask people about the centre they’ll say, ‘this is where I took my kids swimming, this is where I took my kids diving, I remember watching Christine Ohuruogu and Usain Bolt and Mo Farah on the track’.
“It’s an iconic venue nationally, but locally it means so much to people. It’s part of the fabric of our community.”
Kay Thoburn, a coach with South London Harriers running club who use the facilities, also highlighted its positive local impact.
She said: “The oldest athlete in my group now, he’s been in trouble with the police, but he found athletics.
“He’s dedicated, focused, he’s turned his life around, he’s doing youth work – and he’s a pretty tidy runner!”
The anniversary event included taster activities for children and gave some a first chance to use the facilities.
Annik Luppi, 39, an osteopath from Upper Norwood, said: “It’s great to have such an amazing sports centre in the area and although it’s not quite there yet because they’re doing renovations, I’m really keen to support this.”
“Anything like that is incredibly important for kids, for older children, teenagers, and adults.
“I’d love my children to use this regularly.
“They can cycle here, come and do their sports and meet up with their friends – it’s a healthy place for young people to meet up and hang out.”
While more money is needed to rejuvenate the stadium, fondness for it has not waned since it hosted world-class competition.
Hutchings said: “Anybody who has any experience or first hand memories of Crystal Palace and an appreciation of how great it was will feel it’s the spiritual home of athletics in London.
“If they put on a meeting at the Palace, you could sell it out three or four times, it would be heaving.
“It would be like Glastonbury – people would be queuing to get tickets.”
Francis Bernstein, 59, is co-secretary of Crystal Palace Sports Partnership, a stakeholder group which petitioned to save the stadium from demolition.
He said: “Having so many different sports across so many different abilities and ages means things can just happen here that can’t happen elsewhere.
“Alex Yee started off as a runner and Crystal Palace triathlon were training here.
“He crossed over into triathlon, he’s now a double Olympic champion.
“Other major venues like Birmingham [Alexander Stadium] are vital in those parts of the country, but here there is no other purpose-built events stadium.
“Thirteen bus routes, three railway line services, you’ve got all the facilities to put on medium to major events as well as hosting recreational grassroots to elite training.”
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