British team building brand-new dedicated high-performance centre

Archery GB has announced that construction of a state-of-the-art archery centre is underway near its headquarters at Lillehall National Sports Centre and will open in late 2023.

The new facility will have a 70-metre indoor shooting hall and an outdoor range with a permanent cover and capacity for around 30 targets, as well as social spaces, offices and changing rooms.

It’s costing 3.6 million GBP and being funded by Sport England and UK Sport, rather than members, with Archery GB as the centre’s long-term tenant.

Once complete, Lilleshall Archery Centre will be used by the British Olympic and Paralympic squads, athletes on the performance pathway and elite compounders on a daily basis.

It will also host training camps, education programmes and development projects.

“Lilleshall has been the home of British archery… for the past 20 years. However, the archery facilities have lacked investment and haven’t been fit for purpose,” said Archery GB performance director Tom Duggan.

“To have a purpose-built archery facility… aligns with our ambitions to redefine performance archery.”

Duggan added that the constant training availability provided by a permanent centre would benefit archers across the British programmes.

With work scheduled to finish before the end of 2023, the new centre will come into play for British archers as they attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The qualification period starts this summer.

Archers currently train from a temporary tent placed nearly a kilometre from the indoor facility and equipment spaces.