A new National Basketball Performance Centre is to be built amongst other new state of the art facilities at Belle Vue Sports Village, with construction already underway.

Basketball England will use the facility to host a number of regional and national events as well as creating a new community programme for players of all ages and abilities – aiming to drive participation levels and skill development.

It will include a retractable FIBA show-court with a capacity of 2,000 seats along with two other basketball courts – with the advantage of hosting training camps, plus international games and tournaments.

The Sports Village is also set to be the new home of Manchester Giants – who currently play at the Lucozade Trafford Powerleague Sportsdome – having had talks about becoming the main tenants.

“We’re pleased to be supporting Manchester City Council and Basketball England to develop a National Basketball Centre at the Belle Vue Sport Village,” said Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston. “The new facility will provide a vibrant hub for grassroots basketball and help develop the next generation of talented athletes.”

“We are delighted to be entering into a fantastic partnership with Manchester City Council and join together to invest in this exciting project that will provide our elite athletes and national teams with an international standard facility for training and games,” added Peter Griffiths, Basketball England Facilities Development Manager. “The new facility will also provide weekly playing opportunities for the local community at all levels of the game and we look forward to seeing participation in Manchester continue to grow.”

As well as the Performance Centre, a new National Speedway Academy will be created along with two new 3G artificial football pitches with netball, volleyball, cricket and badminton suitable to play in the leisure centre.

Image credit: Manchester City Council