The sports performance centre at Heriot-Watt University has actually been open for a while, but the First Minister visited on Friday to mark the official opening of the £33 million building known as Oriam.
The funding was provided partly by The City of Edinburgh Council (£5million), The Scottish Government (£24 million and the remainder from sportscotland and Heriot-Watt University.
The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said: “I’m delighted to officially open the new Oriam National Performance Centre which is a fitting home for our current sporting heroes and for generations of future stars.
“Our top sportsmen and women deserve the facilities, programmes and services that will help them excel. That’s why, in recent years, we have invested heavily in our sports infrastructure – including the £26 million we and sportscotland have invested towards Oriam.
“It’s fantastic that as well as elite athletes, these world class facilities can also be used by people in the local community. Scotland’s sporting facilities are now the best they have ever been and Oriam is the jewel in the crown of a range of new sports facilities up and down the country.”
Chair of sportscotland, Mel Young: “At sportscotland we are building a world-class sporting facility for everyone and Oriam has a huge role to play in delivering on our ambition to make Scotland a more active nation.
“Oriam was designed to inspire everyone to be the best that they can be, at every level. Scotland’s top athletes will benefit from the incredible facilities and expertise, giving them the best possible platform for success on the world stage. For the students here at Heriot-Watt University and the wider community, what better inspiration could there be to become more active than to train alongside their sporting heroes.
“Sports facilities in Scotland are now the best that they have ever been and what we have collectively delivered here at Oriam is simply outstanding. I am immensely proud that Scotland now has a sports performance centre that is, without doubt, world class.”
Councillor Richard Lewis, the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Sport convener: “Oriam will provide an excellent national home to the next generation of top athletes and those involved in helping them achieve their aims, but crucially it will also support local rising stars and those who are still developing a passion for sport. The Edinburgh community and local sport groups will be able to take advantage of Oriam’s world-class facilities, which I am sure will support and develop our aspiring athletes for generations to come.”
The facility will provide training areas for a wide variety of sports such as football, rugby, basketball, netball, handball, squash and racquetball. This is for elite athletes and came from the Mcleish report into football which demanded training facilities for top athletes with all the support services needed for success on the international stage. It is hoped that this centre for sporting excellence will inspire generations for years to come.
The South-West Community Sport Hub hosts many local sporting clubs in the building too.
Facilities include an outdoor synthetic pitch; five outdoor natural football and two rugby pitches; twelve-court sports hall; a full size indoor 3G pitch; fitness suite, and world class facilities for sports science and medicine including a hydrotherapy facility. The new facilities complement the current facilities based at Heriot-Watt’s Edinburgh Campus, which includes eight squash courts; two new exercise studios; a four-court sports hall; sports performance laboratory and a 60 x 40 indoor 3G synthetic pitch. The centre is also home to world-class facilities for sports science and medicine, a fitness suite, as well as conferencing, changing facilities and a bistro kitchen.
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