Dundee Regional Performance Centre

Project value: £27 million

Framework: Civil Engineering | Scotland

Scottish Green Energy Awards 2019: Carbon Reduction Award

Community benefits on this project: £6.3m (£0.23 for every £1 spent)

Waste diverted from landfill: 334 tonnes

Apprentices onsite: 26

Schoolchildren and university students engaged: 1,194

"This ambitious project will provide superb sporting facilities alongside an energy centre that will make a significant contribution to our vision of Dundee as a sustainable city."

Councillor John Alexander

Dundee City Council Leader

Providing athletes and the wider Dundee community with a new, top-class training and competition venue, catering to a wide range of sports.

Funded in part through a grant from Sport Scotland, the new complex enables all-weather training for athletes and plays a key part in raising the profile of Dundee as a Centre of Excellence for Sport, whilst putting health and wellbeing at the centre of the community.

It also included the creation of an innovative, state-of-the-art £5 million Energy Centre consisting of multiple renewable technologies, which provides the council with district heating capability and more energy-efficient structures. This element of the project has benefitted from the first award of ERDF Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) funding of £3 million, and won the Carbon Reduction Award at the 2019 Scottish Green Energy Awards.

The complex is home to a new indoor athletics centre with an 80m running straight to provide all-weather training, as well as an eight court multi-sports hub building with spectator seating, a strength and conditioning suite and a state-of-the-art sports science suite.

It has an indoor, full size 3G pitch for football and rugby, designed to meet stringent FIFA compliance standards, as well as an outdoor 3G combined grass pitch.

The existing athletics track at Caird Park has been resurfaced and upgraded to include a covered spectator area and the centre includes high standard facilities for onsite medical teams and physios, as well as sport science support roles.

The project also included associated parking, fencing and infrastructure work, to ensure the centre is safe, secure and easily accessible for all members of the community, including those who play disability sports.

From the outset, a key requirement was to ensure that the commissioning of the Energy Centre was achieved in time for the council to obtain £250,000 of LCITP and Scottish Government funding. As a result, innovative solutions had to be found to challenges which had the potential to affect the progress of the Energy Centre works, and enable completion within a strict 15 month timeframe.

Constructing the borefield presented numerous challenges, such as overcoming ground obstructions to the planned bores and ensuring compliance with Scottish Environment Protection (SEPA) regulations.

As the premise of the centre is a hub for future regional sporting talent, it was crucial to collaborate closely with Dundee City Council’s design specification to ensure each of the sporting facilities met the high-quality standards set, and that they were within competition criteria in terms of build specification.

Working closely with GIE, the energy centre specialist subcontactor on this project, Balfour Beatty were able to accelerate aspects of the Energy Centre works and increase planned resources as necessary to both offset the issues encountered with the borefield and to mitigate the associated delays.

Working with the community

Throughout the project, Balfour Beatty worked closely with local suppliers and subcontractors to provide real sustainable benefit to the local economy. Additionally, £7,400 was invested to support the delivery of the “Design, Engineer, Construct!” programme at Harris Academy – a new qualification which enables young people to develop a range of skills and knowledge that is fundamental to successful engagement in the technical and professional aspects construction.

Engaging with the supply chain

Working with an expert supply chain was vital for successful delivery due to the specialist nature of a number of work packages. These included the tensile fabric structures constructed for the indoor 3G pitch and athletics building, the energy centre, the structural steelwork and precast stairs, roofing and cladding, the interior fit out including fixed furniture, benches and lockers as well as a FIFA standard artificial pitch installation.

Sustainability

The renewable Energy Centre will generate geothermal energy, providing hot water for the sports centre, athletics building and a future district heating main. The electricity generated from solar panels located on the building’s roof will fuel the ventilator system.

In recognition of the Energy Centre’s positive impact on the environment, the project won the Carbon Reduction Award at the 2019 Scottish Green Energy Awards, which is a truly fantastic achievement. We are also delighted to have assisted Dundee City Council in implementing their focus on minimising ongoing maintenance costs through the use of a robust and renewable sustainable energy strategy.

"One of our main aims is to develop a world-class sporting system in Scotland and that’s been going on for a number of years now. The Regional Performance Centre in Dundee is a piece of that jigsaw."

Graham Finnie, Lead Manager of Facilities

Sport Scotland

"The Regional Performance Centre will complement Dundee’s existing facilities, enabling greater access for local clubs, communities, individuals as well as for elite athletes. This means there will be increased opportunities for children and adults from all backgrounds to get involved in sport and physical activity which is something we particularly welcome."

Graham Wark, Head of Leisure & Sport

Leisure & Culture Dundee

Leisure & Culture Dundee is an independent charity responsible for the delivery of leisure and culture programmes in Scotland.

£3.3m

spent with local SMEs

£6.3m

community benefits

78%

workforce within 40 miles of site