Brighton & Hove Albion Chairman Dick Knight said: “A new sports centre is at the heart of the King Alfred scheme and more investment in sport is what Brighton and Hove desperately needs if we are to develop our future sporting heroes. Top quality indoor sports facilities at Hove and a new community stadium at Falmer will create fantastic and affordable opportunities for local people to engage in sporting activities. The health and vibrancy of the city is what both projects are all about”.

Albion Chief Executive Martin Perry said: “This project is a vital part of an overall vision to improve the sporting pathways in our great city. Along with the Community Stadium at Falmer it will make a major contribution to the regeneration of our city and help us build a healthy sustainable community. It is essential that the City supports these projects and withstands the attack from minority, self-interest groups who threaten our vision and make it hard to attract the inward investment that we so badly need to deliver these fantastic facilities for the whole of Sussex”.

The new sports centre has been designed in collaboration with HOK Sport Architecture, recognised as the world’s leading sports architects and responsible for delivering the Olympic Stadium in Sydney and London’s Olympic bid along with many of the world’s most renowned stadiums.