Sport England have announced changes to the recommended size of standard sports halls with the publication of their "Developing the Right Sports Hall" guidance note.  The note is available for download from the Sport England website.

This new guidance encourages:

• All new facility developments to be programme led, created in partnership with NGBs, local sports clubs and schools.
• The right questions to be asked regarding sports provision and other stakeholder requirements in order that the right sustainable facilities are developed in the right places for the right reasons.
• The use of standard hall sizes wherever possible to ensure that as many other sports as possible can use the hall in years to come. In the case of existing halls, an alternative methodology sets out the principle reviews and decisions that need to be made to establish if an existing hall is suitable for further investment.

The main changes from Sport England's previous guidance are:

1) A revision to the standard 4 court hall size, from 33 x 18m to 34.5 x 20m.

2) A statement that programmes geared to delivering National Governing Body compliant community participation through to club competition can only be served by a hall 34.5 x 20m or larger

3) A revision and simplification of the different levels of play for the individual sports into four level of play categories:

• International (the lowest level of International play)
• Premier (a Premier / National League Club competing in regional or Inter-county competitions)
• Club (a local club competing in District and County League competitions)
• Community (school and community use where there is no formal competitive structure / no specific need for space for officials or spectator accommodation)

The majority of school sports halls default to the standard Sport England size of 33m x 18m and these will now need to be built to the larger minimum standard of 34.5m x 20m, but rather than default to that size, Sport England provide a toolkit and a set of business plans which may result in an even larger hall being justified on sporting and financial grounds.

Continental Sports supports these developments.  The previous 33m x 18m hall was a compromise between many varying requirements an caused many hours of heated discussions over which compromises should and shouldn't be made.  The new approach and guidance will result in better accomodation of the sports' governing bodies requirements and provide better places for sport in the UK.

Continental will be updating the sport-specific dimensions and guidance on our website as and when it is issued by Sport England.