Cardiff City House of Sport is pleased to announce that a planning application has been submitted for the construction of the Llanrumney Sports Complex on Cardiff University playing fields and the adjacent former Llanrumney High School playing fields.
The Project is a collaboration between Cardiff Council, Cardiff University and Cardiff City House of Sport to deliver a state-of-the-art sports complex to serve Cardiff University and the Llanrumney based rugby and football clubs. The multi- sport complex will also become the new home for Cardiff City Football Club’s Academy.
The Llanrumney complex will boast a new tier two 3G football facility, a floodlit 3G IRB standard rugby pitch, floodlit IRB/FIFA standard 3G dual-marked football/rugby pitch and future plans for a hockey field. This will provide Cardiff University with enhanced sports surfaces so as to offer its students a diverse range of sports provision, as well as the ability to provide local sports clubs access to state-of-the-art training and playing facilities at preferential community rates.
The new Academy will occupy 16 acres of the site and will utilise the former Dr. Who building structure with a new translucent canopy. The two-story accommodation block will include offices, classrooms, a lecture theatre, canteen, changing facilities and conditioning gym. The building will also house an indoor academy-standard 3G training pitch, in addition to five full size grass pitches, a 3G tier-two standard pitch and a goalkeeper-specific training area.
The community element of the complex will occupy the former Llanrumney High School playing fields, thus preserving, and enhancing a valuable community asset. The intention is to create a community sports hub with community involvement, to serve the needs of the Llanrumney sports clubs. A new Sports Hub building will provide changing facilities for the two main sports pitches, with a community room and accessible onsite parking. Llanrumney-based sports clubs will have priority community access to the 3G facilities on the combined complex, whilst a focus on participation and inclusion will be the cornerstone of the Hub, incorporating a “sport for all” ethos in developing male and female programmes.
Steve Borley, Director of CCHOS stated: “Our vision, in partnership with Cardiff Council and Cardiff University, is to create a sustainable multi-purpose facility to serve the university and local sports clubs, as well as a new home for Cardiff City FC Academy.
“Our visualisation for the Hub is for local people to invest their spare time proactively and to work with all age groups, genders, ethnicities and backgrounds to promote and deliver sports development for the community of Llanrumney. We hope to bring in assistance from the foundations of the FAW, Cardiff City FC and WRU to provide guidance and help deliver this.”
Cardiff City FC Executive Director & CEO, Ken Choo, added: “I’m thrilled that this collaborative development will help drive forward further Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s vision of sports delivery for all in the City of Cardiff and its surrounding areas.
“The Llanrumney project is particularly exciting, with it also re-establishing a base for Cardiff City Football Club within the city limits itself.
“This state-of-the-art complex will provide a sustainable base for our Academy for years to come, helping us ensure quality and consistency in our development of young players into professional footballers.”
Cardiff University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Colin Riordan said: “We are delighted to have worked with Cardiff City House of Sport and Cardiff Council to secure a major financial investment in our Llanrumney Sports Fields site. Once completed, it will create a Centre of Excellence and see our students benefit from unrivalled access to some of the best floodlit, state-of-the-art outdoor sporting facilities.
“Just as importantly, it means that the local community will benefit, with local teams having access to our new and improved facilities and Cardiff City FC’s Academy permanently located on our site. Given the extremely challenging financial environment, this is an excellent example of what can be achieved when Cardiff-based partners come together to work innovatively for their own individual benefit and for the benefit of the wider sporting community of Cardiff.”
Additional details on the Community Sports Facility can be found on display in Llanrumney Hall Community trust.