Harlequins Agrees Deal to Launch New Centre for Rugby at Surrey Sports Park

English Rugby Union team, Harlequins have announced today that it has reached agreement with the University of Surrey, owners of Surrey Sports Park, to establish a new Centre for Rugby that will house the club’s training facilities at the leading sports complex on the outskirts of Guildford.

The current Aviva Premiership champions, who have used the Sports Park as their training base since 2010, have operated from a temporary facility that housed administration offices and team facilities.

The new state-of-the-art centre, which will be located on part of the Sports Park’s existing footprint and adjacent to the club’s current training pitches, will provide the club with first class changing rooms, medical suites, video and statistical analysis suites, meeting rooms, a lecture theatre and administration offices.

Work to transform an existing building into the new Centre will start immediately and players, coaches and support staff will move into the refurbished accommodation this September.

David Ellis, Harlequins Chief Executive, said, “Our players and coaches deserve the best training facilities that the club can afford and now they will have them. This development represents a major investment by the club and we’re grateful to our owners and to the University of Surrey, in particular to the management of Surrey Sports Park, for making it possible.

“As part of our commitment to the Park, we will identify future opportunities to share our knowledge and experience of the sport with members of the University community and support any related academic programmes, research or teaching in an active and positive way,” Mr Ellis added.

Commenting on the announcement, Paul Blanchard, Chief Executive of Surrey Sports Park, said, “We’ve been pleased and proud to have Harlequins based at our Olympic standard sports complex for the past three years. The club offers valuable support to our student teams, our community activities and research programmes and we see it as a welcome part of our University community. The new facility will greatly enhance the accommodation available to the club and we’re looking forward to turning the plans into reality over coming months.”