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Slap bang in the middle of Crystal Palace Park, the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre has been a hub of health and wellbeing for south Londoners for over six decades.
From its diving pool and climbing wall to its athletics track, the place has a huge range of sporting facilities – but the CPNSC is also historically significant. Since it opened in 1964, it’s hosted renowned athletes and sporting competitions (like the first-ever Women’s FA Cup final in 1971 and a whopping 28 track and field stadium world records). The Grade II-listed building is also something of an architectural marvel, designed by Norman Engleback – the architect behind the recently Grade II-listed Southbank Centre.
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre is a legendary place, but in recent years it’s been in urgent need of some TLC. Notably, the main 50m pool closed in 2020 after large cracks were found at its base. It’s stayed shut ever since.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced plans to revamp the centre way back in 2023, but now further details have been revealed – the plans were finally officially submitted this week. The revamped venue will feature stuff like a basketball court, football pitches, and shiny (and crack-free) pools. The £130 million redevelopment will be overseen by Morgan Sindall Construction, the company behind Lambeth Town Hall’s 2018 renovation.
The 15-hectare sport facility revamp will boast not just the aforementioned places to play basketball and football but also improved accessibility, an outdoor gym, a cafe and a six-court padel centre. And Crystal Palace isn’t just getting a new pool: it’s getting a whole ‘aquatics hall’ with four pools: one each for diving, shallow, 25m and 50m.
The outside of the Grade II-listed building will also be spruced up. Photovoltaic panels and a heat pump system will apparently bring carbon emissions down by 97 percent.
Commenting on the submitted plans, Khan said: ‘This is an historic and much-loved national sporting and community facility, where many UK sporting stars have started their careers and trained.
‘We look forward to working closely with partners and the local community to create an outstanding sporting venue as we work together to build a better, fairer London for all.’
If all goes ahead, the centre would aim to reopen in late 2028, while the stadium isn’t due to be completed until 2030.
Bromley isn’t the only borough getting a wellness revamp. Enfield’s leisure centre recently reopened after a £7 million makeover, and in a few months time, an Olympic-sized lido will open in Canary Wharf.
Dive into London’s best lidos and outdoor swimming pools.
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