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With Stage 1 of its $100 million Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology (BEST) Hub and Lodge fully leased, Blacktown City Council is now inviting expressions of interest for multiple BEST Stage 2 development areas.

When complete in 2023, BEST will bring together allied health, sports medicine, rehabilitation services and training facilities to push the boundaries of health care, education and sporting performance. The services will be underpinned by practise informed research and higher education.

As the Mayor of Blacktown, Tony Bleasdale OAM, recently noted, “BEST will deliver world class facilities and will take community health and sport innovation to a new level. These transformational projects are a source of much excitement in our city.”

Neil Gibson, Precinct Director Blacktown International Sportspark, added “our partners share our vision for the project and continue to push the project team to deliver a building that is transformational not just in its design but in how it delivers healthcare for the community.”

Innovation will be led by the BEST partners, Blacktown City Council, the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Sydney West Sports Medicine and WentWest, along with the teams and organisations that call the Sportspark home.

Australian Catholic University will conduct teaching and research activities within the BEST hub principally focusing on sport and exercise science. Their facilities include Physiology and Biomechanics laboratories, an environmental chamber and a 60 metre gait analysis track.

Sydney West Sports Medicine will operate a sports medicine clinic within the BEST hub offering a range of services including exercise physiology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy within a bespoke clinic space.

WentWest are the Western Sydney primary healthcare network and in the BEST hub will deliver a neighbourhood health hub providing a range of services and initiatives around public health and medicine.

As WentWest Chief Executive, Ray Messom explains “BEST is really a beacon on the hill. It provides access to new models of care, new research, and innovations that Blacktown City just wouldn’t have otherwise. One of the ambitions that WentWest has for Western Sydney is that it is internationally known for being a centre of excellence.”

AFL as a partner in the BEST Hub, and one of the primary sports codes at the Blacktown International Sportspark, sees significant upside for the sport.

Tiffany Robinson, Head of AFL, NSW and ACT, commentedt “we welcome the Council’s significant investment into the Sportspark as it will benefit our AFL community from our youngest Auskickers through to our talent pathway athletes.”

Dr Dean McNamara, Director Sydney West Sports Medicine, advises "oOur practice is a sports medicine inspired model of health care where we link physiotherapists, exercise physiologists all the way through to sports doctors. At the BEST Hub, we see ourselves fitting right in the middle of WentWest and ACU as a place where we can provide community health, all the way through to professional sport research and development with ACU.”

Facilities within the Sydney West Sports Medicine include:

• Multi-disciplinary treatment rooms 
• Biomechanics and Physiology laboratories
• Strength and conditioning gym
• Aquatic recovery centre
• Environmental chamber
• Meeting rooms
• Auditorium and function space

There are three developable areas available within the Sportspark with adjacencies to BEST and Eastern Road and range in size from 9445 metre² to 22805 metre².

Exciting new era as Sportspark is re-imagined
The 60 hectare Blacktown International Sportspark in the centre of ‘global Sydney’ that began life as a Sydney 2000 Olympic Games training and competition venue, is now being reimagined from the grassroots up. 

In recognising the importance of being a healthy, active and sporting city, and the motivational power of physical activity to change lives for the better, Blacktown City Council saw a unique opportunity to shape a bold and inclusive future for the Sportspark. 

New amenities and access for all 
Blacktown City Council will operate the strength and conditioning gym, aquatic recovery centre, meeting rooms and auditorium. Outdoor facilities include a rectangular synthetic pitch and large-scale physical literacy area, a space where people of all ages can benefit from being physically active within a safe environment.

The new cafe will be the perfect place for a pre- or post-game catch up with friends, a pit-stop on a family cycle or walking adventure and will offer a healthy mix of snacks, meals and drinks. A new shared user path will connect the Sportspark to Rooty Hill in the west and Charlie Bali reserve in the east.

The shared user path will create a 1.3 kilometre trail through the Sportspark for cyclists and pedestrians creating a new route for the Great West Walk.

The Lodge 
Athletes, coaches, friends and family that already come to the Sportspark in their thousands from all over New South Wales and Australia will now have purpose built, affordable and dedicated academy style accommodation with thirty-seven rooms, and a 100 bed capacity. 

$15 million Disability Sports Centre of Excellence 
Delivering purpose built multi-sports competition and training facilities for disabled athletes is another cornerstone investment in opening the Sportspark to new user groups. The development is a partnership with Disability Sport Australia and will deliver training facilities for a number of disability sporting organisations. The centre, construction for which is scheduled to start in 2023, is being developed with funding from the New South Wales Office of Sport and will be built next to the existing athletics stadium to the west of the Sportspark.

Click here for more information on the Australasian Leisure Management Tenders/Opportunities pages.

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1st December 2017 - Blacktown International Sportspark expands cricket practice facilities

25th February 2021 - NBA Sacramento Kings access sport technology advances through partnership with Australian Catholic University

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