New sporting showpiece for University campus

A new showpiece centre for sport will open at the University of Teesside this autumn, completing the £50million-plus transformation of the Middlesbrough campus.

The £6million two-storey Olympia building will be next to the School of Health & Social Care's Centuria Building on Victoria Road, Middlesbrough.

The visually striking Olympia Building has been designed to serve both the teaching & research needs of the University's expanding work in the field of Sport & Exercise as well as helping to meet the sporting and recreational needs of students and staff.

Unique features include an exercise physiology research laboratory, housing a state of the art environmental chamber and a biomechanics lab.

Martin Pout, Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University, said: "The exercise physiology research lab and the environmental chamber will give Teesside the cutting edge for both teaching and research.

"It will be an excellent research resource and allow us to control the environment from -20ºC to +40ºC with pinpoint accuracy and simulate the climate of almost any country in the world, allowing athletes and other individuals to experience adverse conditions and then acclimatise.”

Professor Tim Blackman, Director of the School of Social Sciences & Law, said: "The Centre for Sport will give the University an excellent teaching and recreational facility. It will also give us new opportunities to enhance the exciting curriculum and the University's research in this field.”

The new Olympia Building will also include a sports hall - the size of six badminton courts - capable of staging major basketball and other sporting tournaments and having capacity for 500 spectators.

For more details on Sport & Exercise courses at the University of Teesside please call 01642 342308 or check the University of Teesside’s web site at www.tees.ac.uk

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