Iconic Facilities Fund

Sport England's Iconic Facilities fund draws on the inspirational pull of London 2012 to create local beacons for grassroots sport. We are investing £30m over the next three years in innovative, large-scale, multi-sport facilities' projects that are regionally significant for at least two sports and can demonstrate long-term financial viability.

Places People Play

The Iconic Facilities fund is part of the £135m Places People Play initative which will deliver an Olympic and Paralympic legacy of increased sports participation by bringing the magic of a home Games into the heart of local communities. It is being delivered by Sport England in partnership with the British Olympic Association, the British Paralympic Association, with the backing of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Iconic Facilities is one of the three Places programmes which will transform the places where people play sport, in cities, towns and villages across the country.

The facilities supported through these programmes will be the only ones to carry the London 2012 Inspire mark, a permanent celebration of their role in the legacy of the Games.

In this way, Iconic Facilities will use the inspirational pull of London 2012 to enchance a successful existing funding programme, previously known as the Sustainable Facilities fund.

Find out more about Places People Play.

The challenge ahead

Facilities built in the public spending boom of the late seventies and early eighties are now ageing. And if Sport England is to create a world-leading community sport system, they need to be improved.

But it’s not just about building new facilities or modernising old ones. Sport England need to invest in facility projects that are sustainable in the long-term, not just when they open.

This means they must invest in projects that are able to bring in enough revenue to maintain high standards of facility provision and customer service and a varied programme of sports opportunities and sports development outreach work.

Otherwise, standards may fall leading to a decline in use and levels of satisfaction.

Sport England must invest in projects that also create long lasting partnerships between public, private and commercial organisations. They will develop and promote industry best practice and they will make an impact on one or more of our strategic outcomes.

International comparisons show the advantages of a shift to a new-generation of indoor and outdoor community hubs that link sport and active recreation with commercial activities allied to wider social policy areas such as health, childcare provision and lifelong learning. They bring together community facilities with revenue streams that put sport at the heart of the community.

You can find out more about sustainable facilities and how they could work by downloading and reading our Sustainable Community Facilities Toolkit. 

Sport England are determined to lead from the front through a new approach to investment in facilities and look forward to hearing from you and your organisation if your project can help us in this journey.