BREAKING NEWS: We’re delighted that the £130 million plans to transform the Grade II* listed Crystal Palace National Sports Centre were unanimously approved by Bromley Planning Committee yesterday evening, following support from C20 Society, Historic England, Sport England and multiple stakeholder groups. The long-awaited decision paves the way for the biggest investment in the mid-century sports complex in 60 years, following decades of decay that left the centre in a precarious condition. Top flight athletics was last hosted at the venue in 2012, and the 50m pool closed in 2020. The refubishment project, spearheaded by the @MayorofLondon and GLA, is expected to be competed by 2028-29. Led by @FaulknerBrowns with Woo architects, key elements of the design include improvements to accessibility, upgrading the building’s fabric to optimise energy use, introducing a glazed screen to divide the pool from the rest of the facility, removing fossil fuel systems to be replaced with heat pumps and solar panels, and modernising the stadium with capacity increased to 25,000. Designed in 1953-4 and built between 1960-64 by the LCC Architect’s Department under Leslie Martin, the £2.75 million complex was billed as Britain’s first modern sports centre, incorporating wet and dry sports within the same building. The idea of creating a single internal space and then dividing it down the centre, using an A frame of concrete struts to support roof, with a pool on one side and sports hall on the other, was without precedent. The wider 15 hectare site site comprises the indoor sports hall with swimming and diving pools, together with a large gym and a multitude of other internal facilities, plus a 16,500-seat outdoor athletics stadium, football pitches, hockey, tennis and more recently beach volleyball courts, and former athletes accommodation.