Major milestone for new Essex Sport Arena celebrated

Our exciting new sports centre at our Colchester Campus has celebrated a major milestone with its topping out ceremony. Topping out marks the point at which the main structural work and roof are complete and is a tradition in construction projects.

The new Essex Sport Arena will include eight badminton courts, three basketball courts, three netball courts, five volleyball courts and two futsal courts.

Bryn Morris, Registrar, said: "I am delighted to be marking this vital point in the construction of our exciting new sports facility. We want to encourage all our students and staff to take advantage of our excellent sports offer and it is great to see our new Arena take shape."

Dave Parry, Director of Sport, said: "The topping out of the new £11m Essex Sport Arena is an important symbolic moment towards the completion of our new world-class sporting facility. The new facility will be transformative in terms of the student experience that we are able to offer through sport and physical activity. It will also raise our profile in sport in the UK as high-profile elite teams and competitions come to our University. This ceremony brings the realisation of that vision a big step closer."

The development is being completed by Kier Construction who will now move on to completion of the external fabric of the building, internal fit-out and landscaping works.