Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park opens up new public spaces

28th September 2017

New spaces on Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park have been opened to the public in a welcoming event for the local community.

Five years on from London 2012, the site has been remediated and the soft landscaping has been completed. Hoardings and fences were removed during the day, giving the local community free access to all parts of the site from Worksop Road to Coleridge Road. This includes easy access to the canal basin that has been tidied and improved over the summer by volunteers from the project design and construction teams. The event saw pupils from the Oasis Academy Don Valley run down the new 100m track through an opening ribbon as well as tours of the new space for leisure, walking, running and cycling. The site includes two new Outdoor City Run Routes, which were tried out by a group of runners from local running store Accelerate, including the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre Director, Prof Steve Haake. They also tackled the optional high viewpoint route offering a lookout across the city. The landscaping has been designed to enhance urban ecology, with a variety of habitats to increase flora and fauna and an orchard has been planted to complement the Oasis Academy's edible garden, promoting healthy eating as well as healthy living. Richard Caborn, Project Lead for Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, said: -It's only been four years since Don Valley Stadium was taken down but look at what's been achieved so far. -This is a valuable asset to the Attercliffe community and these developments will play a key role in supporting the health and wellbeing of the local population closing the gap in health, wellbeing and life expectancy that is experienced in different parts of South Yorkshire. -The UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and the Oasis Academy are already playing a major role in promoting our sport, wellbeing and physical activity agenda, while making great strides in teaching the workforce of the future. -These are only the start of the developments taking place in Sheffield's East End, with work commencing on the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and Basketball Arena in the coming months. Private sector investment over the next two years will include offices, hotels and Research Centres. -This is an exciting time for Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and we are certain that the local community will greatly benefit from this new green space. Managing Director at Henry Boot, Simon Carr said: -It's been a great privilege for Henry Boot to help deliver Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and we are delighted to have worked with so many local businesses. -There's been an awful lot of work that's gone into getting the Park to where it is today we've shifted more than half a million tons of earth to make way for the facilities on this site. -Local employment, local wealth creation and local facilities this is the best of business, politicians and local institutions doing their best for the local economy. The remediation work was funded by a European Regional Development Fund and a Sheffield City Region Infrastructure Fund from Sheffield Local Enterprise Partnership funded the infrastructure and landscaping. For more information, visit www.olympiclegacypark.co.uk, follow @OLPSheffield on Twitter, like our Olympic Legacy Park page on Facebook or search for Legacy Park Ltd on LinkedIn.