Construction services firm ISG has be chosen to deliver the development of the Belle Vue Sports Village in East Manchester, transforming the area into a centre of sport and leisure excellence.

ISG, who will work with AFL Architects on the new facility, has been appointed as preferred contractor for the development through a competition tender via the North West Construction Hub (NWCH) and marks a major pre-planning milestone for the works.

Manchester City Council, in partnership with Belle Vue Aces and England Basketball, are now in the process of preparing the project's planning application that will be submitted in the coming months.

The £10m development will look to become a unique sporting hub for the area, adding to the world class facilities that East Manchester is renowned – becoming the national home of Speedway and Basketball.

The proposals include a new National Speedway Stadium and National Speedway Academy, a new 3G (all-weather) pitch, a new National Basketball Centre, new rugby pitch and high quality improvements to the existing fitness and leisure facilities.

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The £4.5m building costs for the new National Speedway Stadium will be initially funded by the city council. This loan will be repaid by Belle Vue Aces though an annual rent as part of the club's lease agreement. The purpose built, 6,500-capacity speedway venue, with potential for additional temporary seating for larger events, could be the first of its kind in the country – able to host not only national race meets, but as one of the best tracks in Europe will also compete with major speedway venues across the continent to host Grand Prix and World Cup events – which could attract up to 80,000 visitors each year to the city.

Belle Vue would also host a new National Speedway Academy, making Manchester a centre of excellence, encouraging grass roots development of new local speedway talent. In addition, the centre of the track will feature a new grass Rugby League pitch, for use by St Peter's High School and the wider community.

A proposed National Basketball Centre, part funded by England Basketball, will include an extension to an existing sports hall to create a four court training centre that will also be suitable for a variety of national and international competition and events.

Although the focus will be basketball, the expanded hall will be available to the community for a variety of other sports.

The plans also look to replace two water-based synthetic hockey pitches with a more robust 3G pitch, reducing the high water requirements of the current surfaces, and providing a new facility suitable for football, hockey and multi-sports.

(CD/JP)