Capacity 7,500 | ||
 | ||
Location Olympic Park
London, E20
United Kingdom Public transit Stratford
Stratford International
Hackney Wick Operator Olympic Delivery Authority Construction cost £44 million
(£46.9 million in 2017 sterling) Architect MAKE architects, Populous, PTW Architects, ARUP Address Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Copper Street, London E20 3HB, UK Hours Open today · 7AM–10PMMonday7AM–10PMTuesday7AM–10PMWednesday7AM–10PMThursday7AM–10PMFriday7AM–10PMSaturday7AM–10PMSunday7AM–10PM Similar Queen Elizabeth Olympic, London Aquatics Centre, Basketball Arena, Lee Valley VeloPark, Royal Artillery Barracks | ||
A weekend in the life of the copper box arena
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.
Contents
London lions at the copper box arena
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. 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. The design incorporates light pipes and rainwater collectors to reduce both energy and water use by 40%. 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. English Handball campaigned for the rebrand to be reversed.
Olympics
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. For the Paralympics goalball events the crowd in the Box must be quiet.
Post-Olympics
The venue has been adapted into a multi-sport arena for community use, athlete training and major events.
On 8 August 2012, it was announced that British Basketball League side London Lions would re-locate to the Copper Box for the 2013–14 season. The Lions played their first game at the Copper Box on 14 August 2013 in front of a sell-out crowd, losing 72–107 to the Iowa Hawkeyes American college basketball team in the exhibition match.
The Copper Box hosted the London 'Grand Prix Badminton' in 2013 from 1 October until the finals on 6 October. The London Grand Prix forms part of the Badminton World Federations BWF Gold series.
The venue played host to the Netball Superleague Grand Final on 25 April 2015 which saw the Surrey Storm win their first ever 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.
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.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Super Smash Bros. Melee DreamHack London 2015 will take place at the Copper Box on September 19–20.