Olympic Legacy Park has eye on the prize with £14m from the Budget
SHEFFIELD’S Olympic Legacy Park expects to be awarded £14m of funding in the 2015 Budget.
The funding will be invested in the park’s innovative Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) which is being delivered by Legacy Park in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University.
The facilities will allow more than 50 researchers to carry out research on physical activity in collaboration with the private sector and based upon the highly successful Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sheffield.
Prof Philip Jones, Sheffield Hallam University vice-chancellor, said: “We are delighted that the Government is backing our vision to develop the most advanced research and development centre for physical activity in the world.
“Working in collaboration with the private sector at the heart of the Olympic Legacy Park, our talented engineers and researchers will design new products and services from initial concept all the way through to market.
“This will cement Sheffield Hallam’s global reputation for putting the science into sport and physical activity, but the AWRC will also be an exceptional asset for Sheffield and the wider region in helping to attract new jobs and investment. We are looking forward to working with our partners to see our vision come to fruition.”
Facilities at the AWRC will include a 7.5m high indoor laboratory, 4th generation pitch with cameras and tracking instruments, 3D biomechanical and gait analysis and scanning, a manufacturing workshop, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, body composition measurement and physiological testing and a Future Technologies Laboratory.
AWRC director Prof Steve Haake said: “The founding of the AWRC here in Sheffield is recognition of the expertise we have in engineering, sport, physical activity and health. In a few years, people across the world will be trying to emulate what we’ve done here by coupling private sector and University expertise to help the population become more active.”
Through the AWRC’s close links with the National Centre of Sports and Exercise Medicine, researchers will be able to work with the population of Sheffield and use local communities to explore and test the potential of new innovations and products developed at the OLP.
Richard Caborn, project lead for the OLP, said: “This is hugely welcome backing. This project will put Sheffield firmly at the heart of delivering the Olympic legacy, as well as delivering one of the world’s best wellbeing institutions right on our doorsteps.
“Countries around the world will now be looking to Sheffield as the leading light when it comes to the development of health and wellbeing technology.”
