£25m National Performance Centre out to tender

Published on Wednesday 22 February 2012 00:00

THE construction of Scotland’s first National Performance Centre for sport, which will include a National Football Academy, is to be put out to tender with up to £25 million of investment from the Scottish Government.

The plans were formally announced by Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, Shona Robison, with a steering group chaired by SFA chief executive Stewart Regan appointed to set out the criteria for bids from local authorities wishing to bring the centre to their area.

While the centre will be a multi-sports facility, the delivery of the National Football Academy within it by 2016 is seen as a significant development in meeting one of former First Minister Henry McLeish’s key recommendations in his wide-ranging review of Scottish football. It is envisaged that all of Scotland’s international teams, from the senior squad to the youths, will use the academy for training camps and preparation for matches. Ms Robison, however, insisted the new centre will not necessarily be located in the central belt of Scotland.

“We are not going to rule out any area,” she said.

“It will be an open bidding process and the bids will come in from wherever in Scotland. Hopefully the bids will come from various parts of Scotland and hopefully we will be seeing some innovative thinking as well, how the sports science, sports medicine side of things might be delivered, potentially in partnership with local universities or so forth.

“We want some innovative thinking around that and we will see what comes in.”

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