Velodrome News

The structure is really beginning to take shape now, with more of the walls erected since my last visit and a start made on both the roof and the internal terracing.

View from the Football Stadium side.

 

 

 

 

Close up of the first section of internal terracing where we will be sitting in a few months time to see the opening ceremony and the first races.

 

 

 

 

This will be the main entrance I think. Shame to demolish the little brick gatehouse but it will be somewhat dwarfed by the new stadium behind it.

 

The original outline planning application included a road circuit outside the Velodrome running around the existing nature reserve which lies next to the site. Not surprisingly there have been objections from local bird watching organisations, but we hope that a compromise can be reached to the satisfaction of all interested parties.

There was a similar situation when the A50 trunk road was put through the Hilton Nature Reserve, but the wildlife seems pretty tolerant of the 24/7 thunder of juggernauts and automotive hotheads blasting along the tarmac on the other side of a hawthorn hedge.

An outside track would no doubt be very popular with cyclists and help to ease the inevitable overload of the Velodrome track itself, since quite apart from the demand from Derby's increasing number of cyclists, people will be coming from far afield to ride and to race on the state of the art facility.

 

Watch this space for further news and pictures as the building progresses.