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London Aquatics Centre celebrates 1.7 million visitors on its 2nd anniversary

The London Aquatics Centre has welcomed more than 1.7 million visitors to the former Olympic venue since it opened its doors to the public on 1st March 2014.

In its first two years in operation, the venue has quickly established itself as a world class sporting venue at the heart of the community. Visitor numbers have been on an upward trend since the venue opened and have grown by 21% since March 2015.

The past two years have seen the London Aquatics Centre make its mark on the national stage, hosting a number of major sporting events including the FINA Diving World Series, British Swimming Championships, BBC Sport Relief and the Invictus Games that used the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women. Looking ahead, the venue is gearing up to host the London 2016 LEN European Aquatics Championships.

As a venue at the heart of the community, visited by more than 17,500 people on average each week, the London Aquatics Centre demonstrates how the Olympic and Paralympic legacy is being fulfilled. In addition to hosting an impressive 1.7 million visitors in just two years, there are now more than 3,600 children and adults learning the life skill of swimming each week on the London Aquatics Centre Swim School programme and nearly 600 pupils learning to dive as part of the Tom Daley Diving Academy. More than 50 different schools also use the facility for their swimming lessons, bringing thousands of school children to learn to swim. The venue has been successful in encouraging different parts of the community and day visitors to use the world-class facilities, including initiatives such as family-fun and women only swim sessions.

The London Aquatics Centre is also used as an elite training venue and is the training home of Olympic medallist, Tom Daley.

Peter Bundey, Deputy Managing Director at GLL, the charitable social enterprise that operates the London Aquatics Centre, said: “The London Aquatics Centre is a truly special place, which is inspiring young people and adults to swim. This superb venue is not only at the heart of the community but has become the ‘go to’ sporting and leisure destination for various high profile events.

“Every day I hear examples of how the Olympic legacy is alive and well at the London Aquatics Centre. Whether that’s through children learning to swim, Tom Daley diving off the 10m platform or spectators turning up to watch a major sporting event. Every month we see more and more people coming to the London Aquatics Centre. It’s a truly unique and exceptional place.”

London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 2ZQ

 

About Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Visitors to the Park are able to enjoy beautiful parklands and waterways, world-famous sporting venues, arts and events. As a new heart for east London, the Park will also provide new homes, jobs and a cultural and education quarter. The London Legacy Development Corporation promotes and delivers physical, social, economic and environmental regeneration in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the surrounding area, in particular by maximising the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

About GLL

Established in 1993, GLL is the largest UK-based charitable social enterprise delivering leisure, health and community services. Under the consumer facing brand Better, the organisation operates more than 170 public sport and leisure centres and 28 libraries in partnership with more than 30 local councils, public agencies and sporting organisations. Better leisure facilities enjoy 40 million visitors a year and have more than 490,000 members. GLL exists to make community services and spaces better for everyone. In practice, that means investing all profits back into providing quality community leisure and fitness facilities for the good of the communities where GLL operates. Alongside the organisation’s core leisure and library divisions, GLL runs sport and legacy development, health intervention and education, as well as offering the GLL Sports Foundation, one of the largest independent support programmes for talented young athletes in the UK.