Projects
Crystal Palace sports centre wins planning approval
By Staff Writer | 11 August 2026
Planning permission has been granted for the refurbishment of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, with the main contractor already appointed through a public framework and work due to start on site late this year.
The approval covers the 15-hectare site in south London, which opened in 1964 and has run down badly since. The scheme is a full refurbishment rather than a rebuild, and is intended to bring the venue to a modern standard while keeping its listed character intact.
The works were procured through the Southern Construction Framework, with Morgan Sindall Construction appointed as main contractor. Work is expected to begin on site in late 2026.
The design targets a 98 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, pursued through a fabric-first approach rather than bolt-on plant.
What the approval covers
The diving pool and the 50-metre pool return to the aquatics hall, giving shallow water, 25-metre and 50-metre swimming and diving in one space. A glazed screen will separate wet and dry areas to control noise and humidity, a defect that has dogged the building for decades.
The gym doubles its stations. The indoor zone gains a 100-metre track, a specialist weightlifting facility and a climbing centre. Outside, the scheme adds a padel centre, three-a-side basketball courts, five-a-side pitches and a full-size multi-sports pitch, alongside a free-to-use community space with a 200-metre running track and an outdoor gym.
Accessibility improvements run across the whole site, including lighting, wayfinding and a new step-free route between the Penge and Crystal Palace sides of the park. The refurbished stadium would provide accessible seating for the first time in its history, though funding partners for that element are still being sought.
Photovoltaic panels and air source heat pumps carry the decarbonisation strategy. More than 15 national governing bodies and clubs backed the application, as did the national heritage body, which described the proposals as making the centre fit for the future.
This historic and much-loved national sports facility has created so many UK sporting stars, but it needs major investment and refurbishment and I am committed to delivering this.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
The Mayor described the decision as a once-in-a-generation redevelopment and said the next phase would be taken forward with partners and the local community.
Social value delivered before the permission
The more instructive detail for bidders is what the contractor did before consent was granted. Eight community projects have already run, with more than £56,000 invested locally through the contractor's own transition fund, including a programme that paid 20 young people the London Living Wage to work through four months of design workshops and present at City Hall.
The team has also delivered 72 education and employment events across five boroughs, industrial placements for T-Level students, a two-week build challenge for carpentry students, and 51 work experience placements, 21 of them paid, including seven young people not in education, employment or training.
That sequencing matters commercially. Under the revised social value model, central government buyers must give social value criteria at least a fifth of the score on contracts of £5m or more from January 2027. Frameworks are moving the same way, and evidence of delivered outcomes beats a written commitment when a panel is scoring.
The area director for the contractor said the design showed what could be achieved when ambitious planning was combined with collaboration with the people and athletes most affected.
Consent is the easy part on a building of this age. The refurbishment risk sits in what the 1964 fabric turns out to be once it is opened up.