Meadowbank Sports Center

Meadowbank Sports Centre has been the home of elite sport in Edinburgh since the 1930s. The historic Meadowbank stadium was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, which it also hosted for a second time in 1986. For nearly 50 years the centre was open to both elite athletes and the local community before it closed in 2017.

Designed to high standards of sustainability by Homes Miller Architects, the new centre is part of a wider regeneration of the surrounding area in accordance with the City of Edinburgh Council’s long-term plan to cut carbon emissions and at the same time improve the health and wellbeing of the local community.

Providing access to state-of-the-art sport and physical activity on their doorstep, the new centre is first and foremost a community sports facility. There is an outdoor athletics track with a 500-seat capacity stand and inside facilities include two multi-sports halls with fixed and moveable spectator seating, two squash courts, a gym floor and fitness studios all fitted with Junckers’ solid hardwood flooring.

The two multi-sport halls are fitted with Junckers 22mm Maple Champion flooring providing a durable and long-lasting floor that will easily withstand high levels of usage. Installed over Junckers UnoBat 45 subfloor system, the floor offers a safe and high-performing surface with excellent shock absorption and ball bounce, fully conforming to EN 14904 class A4. Installed by Junckers’ Approved Contractor Courtcraft, the floor has a 25-year warranty which includes a regular maintenance programme to keep the floor in optimal condition. The larger sports hall houses a large-capacity retractable seating unit which can be rolled out onto the sports floor when needed and stored away when not in use. With extensive technical expertise in this area, Junckers will advise on how to strengthen the sprung batten system to allow for heavy loads
whilst leaving the sprung quality of the floor unaffected. A sealed solid hardwood flooring surface is very resistant to the type of wear and tear which may occur with retractable seating systems. Seating wheels will not mark or indent the Junckers floor whereas vinyl and other synthetic floors are often impossible to use because the wheels cause permanent tracking marks and scuffs.

In addition, Courtcraft installed Junckers’ SylvaSquash flooring in two squash courts, a high-performance solid beech floor left unfinished to ensure high grip-levels; and Maple Champion in the two fitness studios. Junckers’ 22mm oak flooring was also supplied for standing-only plinths the gym area, fitted by GL Floors.

A sporting and social hub for Edinburgh, Meadowbank Sports Centre offer participation and accessibility at the heart of the centre, bringing physical, mental, and social benefits to the local community and beyond for generations to come. The project was a collaboration between The City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Leisure and sportscotland.

Images: Paul Zanre