Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park Community Stadium – design description

Don Valley Stadium, one of the most important athletics facilities in England, was demolished in Sheffield in late 2013 and early 2014 due to high maintenance costs. In its place, the Olympic Legacy Park  (the name refers to the 2012 London Olympics) was constructed.

A new soccer and rugby pitch, equipped with third-generation artificial turf, became part of the park. The ground, commissioned in April 2017, was built on the exact site of the former Don Valley Stadium, although it is rotated 90 degrees from the previous one. The main user of the facility is the Sheffield Eagles rugby league team, although it is also available to other clubs and the local community.

In 2018, renderings were unveiled of a new permanent stand, along with extensive facilities, to be built next to the new pitch. A modest groundbreaking ceremony was held in January 2020, but work did not begin until early 2021. The design of the new stand was carried out by Whittam Cox Architects in collaboration with Arup Sheffield. GMI Construction Group became the main contractor. The completion of the work was announced at the end of June 2022, although the new stand was made available to fans as early as May of the same year.

The new stand has 758 covered seats for spectators. The three-story building also offers 23,000 square feet of usable space (facilities, offices, meeting rooms, etc.). There are plans to expand the stand to accommodate 3,900 people, but before that happens, the capacity of the stadium has been set at 1,320 spectators, also taking into account the free space around the field.