Home

Why is a new ice centre needed?

Discover Lee Valley Ice Centre, Why is a new ice centre needed?. Have your say today and share your views on the future of your community. Powered by Commonplace, the leading community engagement platform.

More info

Get started

1/2

Why is a new ice centre needed?

Lee Valley Ice Centre is one of the most popular ice-skating venues in the UK. It is open seven days a week, for up to 19 hours a day, and accommodates around 279,000 visits a year, a third of whom are from Waltham Forest and Hackney and the rest from London as a whole and the wider region.

However, the existing ice centre is over 34 years old and it is now showing its age. If it is not replaced soon, this vital community asset will be lost.

To ensure local people continue to have access to this social space and to respond to the increasing demand for ice time, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority has plans to create a brand new ice centre with two ice rinks, increasing capacity to 557,000 visitors a year.

The new ice centre would double capacity for ice hockey, which is particularly popular among young people from Waltham Forest and Hackney, as well as figure skating, short track speed skating, public skating sessions and our ever-popular ice disco. It would also expand the offer to include a café, gym, dance studio and community spaces, making it a financially viable centre long into the future.

The new twin rink ice centre would deliver:

Two Olympic sized ice rinks (the only twin Olympic-sized venue in south east England)

557,000 visits a year (double the current capacity)

Skating, ice dance, ice hockey, curling and speed skating

Enhanced surrounding landscape creating a gateway to the marshes

An attractive building, vastly improving on the current ice centre

Significant native landscape planting, increasing wildlife and a vast aesthetic improvement

Café and community spaces for visitors to both Lee Valley Ice Centre and the wider park

Sustainable design and innovative use of construction, energy and water methods

One ice rink for community skating, a second rink for events and training

800 spectator capacity (500 seated)

100 station gym and dance studio open to everyone