Oriam is Scotland's national performance centre for sport, based at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

's Riccarton campus in

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. The

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

and the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

use it as a training facility, Heart of Midlothian F.C. rent the centre for first-team training and to run their academy. It is also used by other sports teams, students and members of the public.

History

A review of Scottish football, led by former First Minister of Scotland

Henry McLeish Henry Baird McLeish (born 15 June 1948) is a Scottish politician, author, academic and former professional footballer who served as first minister of Scotland from 2000 to 2001. With a term of 1 year, 12 days, he is the shortest serving holder ...

, picked up on the lack of facilities in Scotland in the first report published in April 2010. In February 2012, Sport Minister

Shona Robison Shona McRory Robison (born 26 May 1966) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she previously served as Deputy First Minister of Sc ...

announced that £25million from the Scottish Government's Young Scots Fund would be put towards a new multi-sports centre which would include a national football academy. Universities, colleges and local authorities were invited to bid. By August 2013 there were three finalists. In September 2013, it was announced that the design b
Reiach & Hall
was chosen. The remaining £9million towards the cost of building came from Sportscotland,

and the

City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Dhùn Èideann'') is the local government authority covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Almost half of the council area is the built-up area of Edinburgh, capital of Sco ...

. Construction work began in March 2015. The £33million facility opened in August 2016. The indoor football pitch is covered by a curved steel frame with a PVC roof, the shape of which has been likened to the trajectory of "the goal which defied physics" which was scored by Brazilian football player

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

against

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1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. The building won the Future Building section at the 2016 Scottish Design Awards.

Sports

The Scottish Rugby Union and the Scottish Football Association have both made long-term commitments to using Oriam ahead of international fixtures. Heart of Midlothian F.C. use the facility to run their academy and for first-team training. The Scottish Handball Association, basketballscotland and Scottish Netball also use the facility. Furthermore, it is used by the recently formed professional women's team in basketball and handball, both launched in summer 2016. Unlike some elite performance facilities, Oriam will be available to other sports teams, students and members of the public. For the 2016–17 season, Hibernian F.C. will play their under-20 fixtures at Oriam.

Facilities

The centre has a FIFA-accredited indoor synthetic

3G pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

which is the largest of its type in Europe. Its dimensions of 116 yards by 76 yards are the same size as those of

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

's pitch. At the midpoint of this playing space, the roof is 28m high and there is a 15m playing height at the sides. The space accommodates a viewing area that can seat 500 people. There is also a synthetic pitch outdoors. There are natural surfaces outside too- five grass football pitches and two grass rugby pitches. Indoors there is a 12-court sports hall, eight squash courts and a four-court sports hall. Other facilities available on the high-performance side of the centre include a HydroWorx 3500i Series hydrotherapy pool with an integrated treadmill, a rehabilitation area and gym area for strength and conditioning. A 160-bed hotel is to be located on the site, to open in 2017.

References

External links

*
'Snippet' image collection
for Oriam at

geograph Geograph Britain and Ireland is a Web application, web-based project, begun in March 2005, to create a freely accessible archive of geographically located photographs of Great Britain and Ireland. Photographs in the Geograph collection are cho ...

{{Coord, 55.910, -3.314, display=Oriam 2016 establishments in Scotland Football venues in Edinburgh Heriot-Watt University National sports institutions Sports academies Sports organizations established in 2016 Sports organisations of Scotland Sports medicine in the United Kingdom National football academies Scottish Women's Premier League venues Sports venues completed in 2016 Heart of Midlothian W.F.C.

History

Sports

Facilities

See also

References

External links