Tyne and Wear HER(9793): Lightfoot Sports Stadium, Wharrier Street - Details
9793
Newcastle
Lightfoot Sports Stadium, Wharrier Street
Walker
NZ26SE
Recreational
Sports Building
Sports Centre
20TH CENTURY
Mid 20th Century 1933 to 1966
Extant Building
1963-5 by Williamson, Faulkner Brown & Partners for Newcastle City Council. The Lightfoot Centre was conceived in the wake of the Wolfenden Report of 1960, which promoted the construction of multi purpose sports centres. When it opened in 1965 its 61m diameter 'flying saucer' dome was the largest in Europe. Its laminated timber ribs were covered in prefabricated reinforced fibreglass panels, cladding that had never been used before on this scale. Beneath the 14m high dome is an expanse of 2,300 square metres. There are two tennis courts and eight badminton courts. Refurbished 1990.
428520
563870
NZ428520563870
N. Pevsner and I. Richmond (second edition revised by J. Grundy, G. McCombie, P. Ryder, H. Welfare), 1992, The Buildings of England - Northumberland, page 498; Lynn Pearson, 2010, Played in Tyne and Wear, charting the heritage of people at play, p 24; Tyne and Wear Museums, 2008, Heart of Walker Regeneration Area, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne - Archaeological Assessment