'Rink will not meet standards', skating bosses claim (From Your Local Guardian)

'But councillor Florence Nosegbe, cabinet member for culture, described the claims as a “storm in a tea-cup”, saying the rink was still on course to becoming a centre of excellence.

She said: “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is going to be a truly top class facility.'

Could the Councillor comment on whether 'top class' and 'centre of excellence' mean 'capable of holding British Championships'?

We have asked both Tesco and lambeth to consult with the National Ice Skating Association, the English Ice Hockey Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation on the current modified plans many times since they changed them massively in 2007. So far they have still not been consulted and therefore are unaware of the potential issues the rink could face in future.

The CEO of NISA has experience of having to clear the ice by hand at ice rinks which have taken six times as long to clear, as the permissible fifteen minutes in a competition, a viable option on only the last day of any competition as otherwise the competition would have to be cancelled. You can therefore understand their reluctance to give Regional Centre of Excellence status to Streatham with these inbuilt failings.

The main issue is there is no Service Lift or ramp in the building for easy Zamboni access or other equipment/supplies. There is plenty of space on the side of the building in Natal Road to provide either, at a much reduced cost than the ongoing high costs of providing an extendable crane, twenty foot container lorry and construction of a steel platform to secure the container for delivery or removal of the Zamboni every time it breaks down and either needs a loan machine or replacement.

replacement of the Zamboni is likely to happen at least six times in the lifetime of the building.

There are many other issues about the design that we have concerns about, we urge anyone with similar concerns to attend the public meeting at the hideaway Club on the 22nd feb at 6pm to ask Tesco's and lambeth about these.

An effectively locked in machine even with an expensive maintenance agreement in place will break down and will need a loan machine or replacement to keep the rink open. There is also the issue of the need to dump ice outside when the ice pit becomes full during busy periods, this is not an option when it is locked in, this will lead to downtime and loss of revenue.

Tesco are saying they will put a second smaller machine in to temporarily keep the ice rink working, this assumes that once Tesco have built the rink and moved on, that whoever runs the rink will pay for this annual maintenance agreement, this is unlikely to last past the existing contract with Greenwich Leisure which ends in 2015. This short sighted "keeping build cost down" passing the buck to the operator is a very bad practice with no understanding of how an Ice Rink operates and remains financially viable.

Stop short changing the taxpayers of lambeth and rectify these shortcomings, maybe then will the rink begin to earn the title "State of the Art"
which if left unchanged will not be.

Councillor Nosegbe displays unbounded ignorance on what is needed for a top class facility.

The recent European figure skating championships in Sheffield relied on there being access to a minimum of two Olympic sized ice pads next to each other throughout the competition. As it happens, Sheffield has three permanent Olympic sized ice pads next to each other. Nottingham has two.

Even British skating competitions are held at rinks with at least two ice pads. There is no two pad facility south of Nottingham and Streatham's redevelopment won't address that issue.

Anyone who thinks the new rink in Streatham could have been a centre for excellence for skaters across Europe is living in cloud cuckoo land. It won't even attract skaters from the midlands.

Sarah

Hi Sarah

You are quoting the requirements for a NISA National Centre of Excellence, Streatham was hoping to get a NISA Regional Centre of Excellence accreditation, I hope others will post what benefit this will bring to Streatham but I am assured by the coaches that is and always has been an important accreditation that we strived to acquire for London.

We tried back in the early noughties to get Sport England funding for a National Centre status but this was the beginning of the funding cutbacks and the lottery monies destined only for summer sports and likely podium winners only.

Beggars can't be choosers but we did aim for the best option for our region, in the beginning Tesco and Lambeth promised us a State of the art World class facility, now we will be lucky to get a poorly designed ice rink. Lamboth labour councillors including councillor Nosegbe and Lambeth's regeneration officers need to take a step back and realise the damage they are about to do to Streatham's Ice rinks Future and it's youngsters aspirations.