Introduction

A world-class athle­tics hall will open in the tran­quil Belgian town of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve in May 2019: the “Centre d’athlétisme de LLN”, a trai­ning and compe­ti­tion faci­lity for elite athletes. However, thanks to its archi­tec­ture and inte­rior design, the hall is also suitable for school and recrea­tional sport – and even for comple­tely diffe­rent types of sport.

The faci­lity was planned by Atelier d’Ar­chi­tec­ture de Genval and Chabanne + Parten­aires. All sport surfaces are made from Regupol by BSW in Bad Berle­burg, Germany.

Location

Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve (31,000 inha­bi­tants) is located in the centre of the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant.

Seven cities had applied for the loca­tion of this unique faci­lity. The geogra­phi­cally central loca­tion in Belgium and the excel­lent trans­port links in connec­tion with the Blocry sports centre finally turned the balance in favour of the Louvain-la-Neuve hamlet.

The Centre d’athlétisme de LLN provides the Blocry sports centre (opened in 1977) with a new focal point which will attract athletes far beyond the country’s borders. There are already inqui­ries from France and Qatar. The 10,000 m² sports hall is located next to the outdoor athle­tics faci­lity and turns the sports centre into a year-round venue for trai­ning and compe­ti­tion.

The “Blocry Sports Complex” also includes several sports halls, a fitness centre, two inflatable halls, two swim­ming pools, seven full-size foot­ball and hockey fields and the neces­sary outbuil­dings. The athle­tics faci­lity and one of the hockey fields have recently been refur­bished.

Architecture and equipment

The faci­li­ties have both, special land­scape and special urban design features. To the north, the hall is adja­cent to a large nature reserve, while to the south it is connected by a pede­strian bridge with the Blocry sports centre. Visi­tors reach the foyer directly via this bridge.

The bright and open foyer creates visual contact between the visi­tors, the new hall and the outdoor athle­tics faci­lity. The inte­rior is largely glazed, so that the sporting acti­vi­ties are visible.

Faci­li­ties at the Centre d’ath­lé­tisme de LLN include

• 200 metre circular track with six lanes
• 60 m track with eight lanes
• Two faci­li­ties each for all jumping disci­plines: long, triple and high jump and pole vault
• 100 m trai­ning track with jump pit
• Trai­ning faci­lity for shot put
• 250 m warm-up track with four lanes
• Gym
• Outdoor trai­ning faci­lity for long jump
• Storage rooms, anti-doping control rooms, physiotherapy,etc.
• Cafe­teria over­loo­king the track

Use

Compe­ti­tive sport has prio­rity. Nevert­heless, the operator also intends to make the hall acces­sible to local athle­tics clubs, schools and courses.

Further­more, the Centre d’ath­lé­tisme de LLN is also open to other sports acti­vi­ties, such as judo and other martial arts on mats – or for badminton and table tennis. These sports will be performed in the centre of the hall. Depen­ding on the type of event, there are between 2,500 (athle­tics) and up to 5,000 spec­tator seats (if the inte­rior is used) on teles­copic stands.

A cate­ring area and offices, some of which are already leased, complete the project, addi­tio­nally contri­bu­ting to the profi­ta­bi­lity of the busi­ness.

Running tracks

In November 2018, BSW started with the instal­la­tion of the track surface in the hall. The work was already completed by February.

The running track system Regupol AG was installed for the compe­ti­tion areas in the hall. This all-rounder already serves stadiums and halls around the world. Seam­less, quick and non-slip, it is equally suitable for elite sports and recrea­tional sports – making it ideal for the Centre d’ath­lé­tisme de LLN.

Another special feature: The six lanes are the widest that are approved accor­ding to the rules of the Inter­na­tional Athle­tics Fede­ra­tion (IAAF). By compa­rison: the lanes in the athle­tics hall in Ghent are 90 cm wide, here they are 110 cm. This provides athletes with considerable added comfort.

The 1,000 m² area for the long-jump outdoor trai­ning faci­lity was installed in-situ using a poly­ure­thane sprayed coating. This coating named Regupol PD has two advan­tages: the instal­la­tion takes less time and it is inex­pen­sive because it requires less effort than a wear layer of inters­persed EPDM granules.

The fitness room has an area of 450 m² and is equipped with an elastic, wear-resistant and non-slip ever­roll fitness floor.

Outlook

Belgian top athletes such as Ismaël Debjani have already exten­si­vely tested the hall, and the tracks in parti­cular – and are thrilled. Debjani, the Borlée siblings and Nafi Thiam will use the Centre d’ath­lé­tisme de LLN to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olym­pics. Chris­tian Maigret, Tech­nical Director of the Belgian Athle­tics Asso­cia­tion (LBFA), even promises “incen­tives” for the medal table.

In any case, the faci­li­ties are a fine example of how successful archi­tec­ture and excel­lent equip­ment can lite­rally give a boost to sport and exer­cise.

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