Aberdeen Sports Village

Aberdeen Sports Village is large regional sports centre located at Linksfield, to the east of Old Aberdeen, a mile (1.8 km) north of the city centre. Describing itself as the premier sports facility in NE Scotland and offering Olympic-standard facilities, the village was developed around a rejuvenated Chris Anderson Stadium. This stadium had a long history of sporting competition but was nearing the end of its useful life and has been rebuilt as part of the project. The Sports Village represents a joint venture between Aberdeen City Council, the University of Aberdeen and sportscotland.

The village combines indoor and outdoor facilities; work began on the first phase in 2007, which cost £28-million and was opened in 2009 by Aberdeen-born footballer Denis Law (b. 1940). This comprises an immense sports hall, an indoor running track, gym, the Chris Anderson stadium and outdoor football and hockey pitches. The steel-framed buildings were designed by Edinburgh-based Reiach & Hall Architects and were one Royal Institute of British Architect's award winners in 2010. An £18.2-million second phase brought a new Aquatics Centre, which opened in 2014 and was the work of the architects Faulkner Browns of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This has replaced and significantly augmented the facilities offered by the University of Aberdeen's swimming pool at King's Pavilion.

The Chris Anderson stadium comprises a 400-m running track, jumping and throwing areas, situated around a full sized football pitch, with a large spectator area and grandstand capable of holding 500 people.

The facility includes a state-of-the-art gym with 75 cardiovascular stations, 30 weight resistance machines and a dedicated free weights area. The sizeable sports hall caters for a range of activities including badminton, basketball, netball, trampolining and table tennis. A full-sized indoor football pitch was constructed using recycled car tyres. An indoor athletics area comprises a 135-m six-lane running straight, with areas for long, triple and high jump, throwing events and pole vault. There are also four squash courts (2 of competition standard, with facilities for spectators), exercise-dance studios, meeting rooms, a café and a crèche.

The Sports Village also acts as an umbrella for other nearby sports facilities; namely the King's Pavilion, which includes a swimming pool, performance gym, tennis courts, football and rugby pitches, together with further football, rugby, shinty and tennis facilities at the Hillhead Centre and Balgownie Playing Fields.

Aberdeen Sports Village has been used by both Scotland's national rugby and football teams for training sessions before international fixtures played at Pittodrie Stadium. The facilities also served as a pre-games training camp for the Cameroon Olympic Team prior to the London Olympics of 2012. The Aquatics Centre will be used as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.


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