A unique challenge
Home to handball, modern pentathlon and goalball during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Copper Box Arena, opened to the public on 27 July 2013, exactly one year after the success of the Games with more than 10,000 visitors coming through the doors over the launch weekend. The challenge for the legacy operator, charitable social enterprise GLL, which runs the venue on behalf of the London Legacy Development Corporation, has always been how to ensure that it remains a valued, relevant facility which not only delivers on pre-Olympic legacy promises but also makes commercial sense.

Tony Wallace, head of Legacy Venues at GLL, explains: “The Copper Box Arena works for three primary markets: as a community sports hub for local residents and clubs, as a health and fitness facility and as a venue for regional, national and international events. Each element of the business is equally important.”

Legacy commitments
The Copper Box hosts between 10 and 20 community events each month and a dedicated sports development team runs a proactive outreach programme with local schools and community groups. The building of local links has led to a number of schools using the venue on a regular basis, along with further education institutions such as Queen Mary’s University and the University of East London.
The community ethos is further underlined by GLL’s recruitment strategy, which has seen 90 per cent of the 52 new jobs and apprenticeships created at the venue go to local residents; many of whom live in areas of social deprivation and had previously been long-term unemployed.

One of the cornerstones to GLL’s bid to manage both the Copper Box Arena and its neighbour, the London Aquatics Centre, was to create long term social and sporting opportunities – and this commitment sits alongside every commercial decision which is made.

The Copper Box Arena is also home to an 80-station, two-studio heath club, which runs 25 classes per week. For Wallace and his team, attracting members was one of the first challenges they faced.

“Because we opened while much of the Olympic park was still undergoing redevelopment, it was a difficult to attract members to the gym in the early days, particularly as there was minimal natural footfall past our doors,” he says.

“However, that’s all changed now, membership and usage figures are strong and as the residential population on the park grows, we believe demand for membership and sport will continue to grow at rapid pace.”

Making its mark
Over the past 18 months, the Copper Box Arena has often hit the headlines as London’s third largest indoor arena. Sporting highlights have included international basketball matches, world class boxing fights from promoter Frank Warren and Sport Relief 2014, which included six hours of live broadcasting and performances by Kylie Minogue, Little Mix and Boyzone. More recently, Prince Harry and his team chose to host the Invictus Games at the Copper Box, attracting 30,000 spectators over three days and wall-to-wall TV coverage.

The first anchor club to base itself at the arena was the London Lions Basketball team, which signed a five-year deal, including a commitment to grassroots development of the sport, working in partnership with GLL. Year one highlights included a sell out, 6,500-seat first game when the Lions played Iowa University from the USA. In what has been described by Vince Macaulay, the London Lions’ team coach as “a sensational first year” the club finished a credible sixth in the British Basketball league.

According to Macaulay, relocating to the Copper Box Arena has had numerous benefits. “The main plus for the team has been the growing fan base, nearly 70,000 people saw the Lions play in the first season. However, the sport as a whole has benefited too, with TV cameras regularly filming at the Copper Box Arena when the team plays or practices and this is creating a lot more interest, more sponsorship and more corporate opportunities.”

Boxing promoter Frank Warren was one of the first to recognise the potential of the Olympic legacy venue. He signed a six-fight deal which kicked off with a British Middleweight Title fight between the unbeaten champion Billy Joe Saunders from Hatfield and the undefeated challenger John Ryder from Islington.

Warren comments: “This is a superb setting for boxing. The Copper Box Arena is what all the investment in the Olympics was about – legacy and giving London a fantastic arena.”

The venue is also building a reputation among businesses and recently hosted Toni & Guy’s annual staff awards and fashion show for 3,500 people. Wallace acknowledges, however, that GLL’s reputation has been built within the sports and sports management sector, so attracting more non-sporting events will be a focus for the next 12 months.

“GLL is renowned as a sports operator,” Wallace says. “We worked on the 2012 Games and manage other high profile facilities like Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and York Hall in Bethnal Green. Although a number of our centres already host large-scale music events, most notably Rivermead in Reading, it is not what we’re primarily known for. So we’re working hard to communicate that our event management experience is in fact far wider than many assume. A key new appointment saw a specialist events manager with a background in entertainment join the team in November (2014), demonstrating our commitment to growing this sector.”

Business strategies
The combination of a community driven ethos, combined with a commercial business strategy makes the Copper Box Arena difficult to categorise. The gym, which boasts the latest Technogym equipment competes against any locally-based private-sector gym, although unlike its commercial counterparts it offers a broad range of concessionary rates and the option of a ‘pay and play’ entry.

As an events venue, Wallace is confident that the Copper Box Arena has already found a place within the market and that’s something he intends to build on. “We’re a great facility, with a fantastic infrastructure and excellent transport links. Because of our 6,000-seat capacity, we offer a more intimate space ideal for bands or acts that can’t quite sell out the biggest venues yet, which gives us a great place in the market for the up and coming stars of tomorrow and somewhere that fans can get up close and personal.”

A standing start
For what is essentially a new build venue sited within a newly emerging district of London, the traction that the Copper Box Arena has already created is impressive.

A typical week now sees community use by local schools, higher education colleges and over 55s during the day between Monday and Thursday.

The evenings are then occupied by some of the Copper Box Arena’s anchor clubs for training sessions. During the weekend it transforms into an international events venue. Regardless of what is scheduled, gym users visit as usual using their own dedicated entrance, which means they are unaffected by any of the other activities taking place.

According to Wallace, the Copper Box Arena is now at capacity during peak times and consistently achieving between 60 and 70 per cent occupancy during the day. He reflects: “During our first 12 months we welcomed 400,000 visitors through our doors and hosted 155 events. It’s been an exhilarating start and it’s a great base to build on.”