New Sports Centre for Orihuela Costa Underway

Councillors from Orihuela Town hall were out in force this week as they inspected the site of the new Sports Zone for the Coast. The Mayoress of Orihuela, Monica Lorente, was accompanied by the councillor for the Coast, Jose Antonio Aniorte, the councillor for Sports, Antonio Lidón, and the councillor for Infrastructure, Manolo Abadia, as she inspected the progress of the new sports complex, which is due to be completed in 2010.

The Sports Zone is located on the Orihuela Costa at “Las Piscinas” and covers a 24,000 m² area. The centre will be easily accessible from the N- 332 and is very close to the Town Hall at Playa Flamenca. Access to the finished complex will be via Calle Niagra.

The Sports Zone will house a comprensive range of sports fields, tracks and courts this includes: two tennis courts, three paddle courts, two Multisport courts and a full-size football field complete with a 400 person capacity grandstand for spectators running down the length of the pitch. It will also have a jogging track that circles the entire area, a 550 metres circumference and three metres wide.
There will be two changing areas for athletes to use. The first, a 190 m2 block will house four locker rooms for football teams, one for match officials, and a reception area together with toilets for public use.
The second, a108 m2 area will contain two changing rooms that will serve the users of the other sporting facilities such as tennis, paddle tennis and the multi-sports areas and will also contain public toliets. There will also be a storage area under the changing rooms for sports equipment.

For serious swimmers, and those who swim for fun and pleasure, the Sports Zone will include what is termed a “semi-olympic” swimming pool. The heated in-door pool will be 25 metres by 12.5 meters and will have a three metre perimeter representing a total area of 580 square metres of the plot. The pool facilities will incorporte changing rooms for the able bodied and the New Sports Centre Underway disabled, as well as a fully-equipped first aid room. There will be a reception area and a cafeteria with its own kitchen to prepare basic meals and snacks. Above these facilties on the first floor will be a suite of offices and a meeting room, leading to two terraces.

Carefull consideration, thought and planning have been employed to ensure that the Sports Zone has been designed so that people with reduced mobility can access all the sporting areas including the football pitch with ease. The changing rooms will all meet current accessibility require ments and 40 parking spaces have also been provided for disabled in accordance with Municipal guidelines on accessibility. There will also be ample car parking spaces for all those people that wish to use the facilties on offer at the complex. The developers also seem to have been considerate of the environment and the mayoress was keen to point out that the wooded area adjoining the development – which is home to a range of indigenous wildlife - will be carefully protected by the developers.

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