The Hackney SPACe Sports Centre ("Sport and Performing Arts Centre") is a

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is part of Hackney Community College and was opened in February 2001 following grants from

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

with the intention that it would become the venue for Centres of Excellence in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. The centre's main hall (dedicated to Malcolm Williams, whose work and vision were instrumental in getting SPACe built) can accommodate a range of indoor sports, and was the home venue in 2006/07 for the professional

team London United, who moved there from

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

in 2006. SPACe is also home to Hackney Community College Basketball Academy and Cricket Academy programmes. It is also home to many basketball teams that play in the London Metropolitan Basketball League (LMBL), the largest regional basketball league in the UK. SPACe has a gym and weights facility housing Olympic free weights and CV equipment as well as three dance studios. One of these has been named after Margaret Shepherd, who taught performing arts at the nearby Hoxton Hall. The main hall has tiered seating for around 600 people. SPACe is managed by Lee Perkins who was instrumental in the sporting development of the centre.

References

External links

Official website
Basketball venues in England Sports venues in London Sport in the London Borough of Hackney Indoor arenas in London Hoxton {{London-sports-venue-stub