Copper Box Arena

Copper Box Arena
The Copper Box Arena in September 2013
Former names Handball Arena (2011–12)
Location Hackney Wick, London
Coordinates 51°32′39.84″N 0°1′12.36″W / 51.5444000°N 0.0201000°W / 51.5444000; -0.0201000Coordinates: 51°32′39.84″N 0°1′12.36″W / 51.5444000°N 0.0201000°W / 51.5444000; -0.0201000
Public transit London Underground London Overground Crossrail Docklands Light Railway National Rail Stratford
Docklands Light Railway National Rail Stratford International
London Overground Hackney Wick
Owner Greenwich Leisure Limited
Operator Olympic Delivery Authority
Capacity 7,500
Construction
Broke ground October 2009
Built 2009–2011
Opened May 2011 (2011-05)
Construction cost £44 million[1]
(£47.7 million in 2018 sterling[2] )
Architect Make Architects, Populous, PTW Architects, ARUP
Tenants
London Lions (2013–present)
London GD Handball Club (2013–present)
London Pulse Netball club (2018-present)

The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue used for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Hackney Wick, London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted modern pentathlon (fencing, shooting, swimming, horse jumping and running) during the Olympics and was the goalball venue for the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[3]

History

London's Olympic bid proposed that there would be four indoor arenas in the Olympic Park, in addition to other main venues, but the revised masterplan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the volleyball being moved to Earls Court Exhibition Centre.[4] The fencing arena was also cancelled, and the fencing took place at ExCeL. Construction of the building was completed on time in early 2011 and came in under budget.[5] The design incorporates light pipes and rainwater collectors to reduce both energy and water use by 40%.[6] Test events were successfully hosted at the venue ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

In January 2012, the venue was renamed the Copper Box from the Handball Arena, thus reflecting the look of the building and the fact that it would not just be used for Handball.[7] English Handball campaigned for the rebrand to be reversed.[3]

Olympics

The Copper Box interior before a handball game

The Copper Box has 7,000 seats. It was used for handball preliminaries and modern pentathlon fencing during the Olympic Games, and for goalball during the Paralympic Games. The handball men's quarter-finals, all semi-finals and both finals were held at the larger Basketball Arena.

The Copper Box was praised for its loud, exciting atmosphere during handball games.[8] For the Paralympics goalball events the crowd in the Box must be quiet.[9]

Post-Olympics

The venue has been adapted into a multi-sport arena for community use, athlete training and major events.

British Basketball League side London Lions relocated to the Copper Box for the 2013–14 season.[10] They played their first game there on 14 August 2013 in front of a sell-out crowd, losing 72–107 to the Iowa Hawkeyes American college basketball team in an exhibition match.[11]

The Copper Box hosted the London Grand Prix badminton tournament on 1–6 October 2013. The London Grand Prix forms part of the Badminton World Federation's Grand Prix Gold series.

The venue played host to the Netball Superleague Grand Final on 25 April 2015,[12] which saw the Surrey Storm win their first Netball Superleague title, defeating the Hertfordshire Mavericks, 56–39.

The Wheelchair Rugby event at the 2014 Invictus Games was held at the venue in September 2014, as was the BT World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in October 2015.

London GD Handball Club, one of the oldest Handball clubs in the country, will use the venue for its home matches.[13]

The floor was badly damaged during a mass fitness event in January 2014, resulting in several netball internationals having to be played elsewhere at the last minute.[14]

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros. Melee DreamHack London 2015 took place at the Copper Box on 19–20 September.

On 3 February 2018, the Copper Box hosted the amateur boxing fight between YouTubers KSI and Joe Weller, which has since been dubbed "[t]he biggest white collar boxing contest ever in the UK".[15] It has also hosted IBF boxing.[16]

From 22 to 25 February 2018, the venue played host to the ITTF Team World Cup table tennis competition.[17]

The Rocket League Championship Series Season 5 finals, an Esports event sponsored by Psyonix, the video game company who created Rocket League, was hosted there on 8–10 June 2018.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "The Copper Box: All you need to know about the unique handball arena". dailymail. 23 July 2012.
  2. ↑ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "London 2012: Olympic venue name-change angers handball chief". BBC Sport. 10 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "London unveils Olympic masterplan". BBC Sport. 7 June 2006.
  5. ↑ Pearce, Nick (12 May 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Handball Arena makes building work on Olympic Park '83 per cent complete'". The Daily Telegraph.
  6. ↑ "Copper Box – 2012 Olympics". London 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Archived 20 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ PAUL LOGOTHETIS (AP Sports Writer) (4 August 2012). "Handball's Olympic venue is the 'Box That Rocks' – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Sharkey excited by silent Copper Box (From The Northern Echo)". Thenorthernecho.co.uk. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "REVEALED: Lions to leave Milton Keynes for Olympic Park in London – MK Lions – Milton Keynes Citizen". Miltonkeynes.co.uk. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "Copper Box sell-out 'promises so much', says London Lions coach Macaulay". London24.com. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Copper Box Arena to host NSL Finals day". England Netball. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  13. ↑ BBC Sport – London GD handball club to move to Copper Box Arena
  14. ↑ "England v NZ: Venue changed after damage to Copper Box floor". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "YouTubers fight Britain's biggest boxing match in a year as 1.6M watch".
  16. ↑ "9th December 2017: World Championship Boxing". Greenwich Leisure Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "Box that rocks to host 2018 ITTF Table Tennis Team World Cup". Copper Box Arena. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  18. ↑ "THE RLCS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO EUROPE!". Psyonix. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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